A hotline between DC air site visitors management and the Pentagon hasn’t labored in years : NPR

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Alex Brandon/AP A hotline that offered direct communication between the Pentagon and the air site visitors management tower at Ronald Reagan Washington Nationwide Airport has not functioned since March 2022, a Federal Aviation Administration official confirmed Wednesday.

The general public acknowledgment got here throughout a listening to of the Senate Commerce Committee, when Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas requested FAA officers concerning the lethal January collision between an Military Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airways regional jet that was approaching the airport for touchdown. Sixty-seven individuals had been killed in that crash.

Franklin J. McIntosh, the FAA's deputy chief working officer, stated the company did not know on the time of the accident that the hotline wasn't functioning.

"We weren't conscious, however we grew to become conscious after that occasion, and now that we grew to become conscious of that occasion we're insisting upon that line to be mounted earlier than we resume any operations out of the Pentagon," he stated.

The FAA stated in an announcement to NPR {that a} "devoted, direct entry line" between the airport and the Pentagon's Military Heliport "has been out since 2022 as a result of development of a brand new tower on the Pentagon. The 2 amenities proceed to speak through phone for coordination."

The Military didn't reply to requests for remark.

An Military unit halted coaching flights within the Nationwide Capital Area — which incorporates Washington, D.C., and close by areas in Maryland and Virginia — on Might 5, lower than two weeks after it had resumed flights once more following a pause in response to the January crash.

That call got here after two industrial plane needed to abort their landings at DCA on Might 1, as a result of an Military helicopter on a coaching mission had gotten too near their flight path.

Margaret Wallace, a Florida Institute of Know-how professor who teaches air site visitors management, stated it's normal for air site visitors management amenities to have hotlines to different vital places of work, resembling climate companies, authorities buildings and navy amenities.

"You simply push a button, and it instantly rings to that facility or that company that they should coordinate with," she stated.

Wallace, who was additionally an air site visitors controller within the U.S. Air Drive, stated hotlines might be helpful to speak with individuals who aren't on the radio communications that controllers use. "Perhaps it is the commander at an Air Drive base. He is not sitting there listening to radios, however it's a direct line to him. Or a direct line to the White Home," she stated.

Within the listening to Wednesday, when Cruz requested when the hotline can be working once more, McIntosh stated he expects the Protection Division to "expedite that timeline to allow them to start their operations."