WASHINGTON -- Federal officials say they are investigating what happened when three commuter jets flew too close to one another near Washington. But they say none of three planes ever were on a collision course.

Michael Huerta is the administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration. He said during a news conference Thursday that none of the planes was ever headed directly for one of the others.

Huerta says the planes flew too close together based on distances established by federal regulations.

The administrator says the incident happened Tuesday because of a miscommunication between a manager at Potomac Consolidated Terminal Radar Approach Control and two traffic management coordinators at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

Traffic controllers had to redirect the planes because of bad weather developing south of the airport.