Communications equipment failure affects three big airports in region
Washington, D.C.(LR) Flights have resumed at the region’s three major airports after the Federal Aviation Administration stopped all takeoffs and landings for a time Sunday afternoon and evening.
A communications equipment failure at the Potomac Consolidated Terminal Radar Approach Control in Warrenton, VA, about 50 miles west of D.C, led to the ground stop at Washington Dulles, Reagan National and Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall airports until around 7:00 p.m.
The FAA says that a back-up system handled communications safely while repairs were made to the main one. The agency says there was no fire in the regional center, which also handles Richmond International, an airport also covered by the Sunday ground stop. Earlier reports had indicated there had been a fire in the air traffic control center.
Flights destined for all of the airports were diverted until the equipment was fixed. The only exceptions to the ground stop were flights headed here from New York.
The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority says the ground stop had “nothing to do with any of the facilities at our airports. The authority runs Dulles and Reagan National.