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The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has temporarily halted flights Friday evening at several major airports in Washington, DC and the surrounding area after a strong chemical odor affected air traffic controllers at a key control facility. Ground stops were issued at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), and Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) while officials investigated the source of the smell.
According to the FAA’s National Airspace Status system, the ground stop at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) began at 4:51 PM due to an equipment outage linked to the incident. The stop was initially scheduled to remain in place until 7:00 PM, though the FAA indicated there was a medium probability of the closure being extended. A similar ground stop began at Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) at 4:50 PM. Departures from the airport were already experiencing delays averaging about 90 minutes and increasing as the situation developed. At Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), a ground stop was issued beginning at 4:49 PM. This temporarily halted inbound flights.
The FAA said the ground stops were triggered after a strong chemical smell was detected at the Potomac Terminal Radar Approach Control facility (commonly known as TRACON). The facility is responsible for managing aircraft arrivals and departures in the busy Washington metropolitan airspace. The odor reportedly affected several controllers working at the facility, which prompted the FAA to suspend flight operations as a precaution while the source of the smell was investigated.
As a result of the shutdown, flights heading to the region’s airports experienced significant delays, and some were diverted to alternate airports. In addition to controlling traffic for the three Washington-area airports, the Potomac TRACON facility also manages airspace for Richmond International Airport (RIC) in Virginia, which was also placed under a ground stop.
Anthony’s Take: Air traffic operations were expected to gradually resume once the source of the odor was identified and the facility was cleared to safely return to normal operations. This story is developing.
(Featured Image Credit: Federal Aviation Administration.)
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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
