On March 27 the Federal Aviation Administration temporarily stopped air traffic at the Washington, DC area's three main airports following the detection of an odor at a Virginia air traffic control facility, the agency said. The smell prompted the evacuation of the Potomac Consolidated Terminal RADAR Approach Control - commonly known as TRACON - which manages airspace for numerous airports across the Washington region.
Ground stops were issued at Reagan Washington National Airport, Washington Dulles International Airport and Baltimore, along with smaller airports in Charlottesville and Richmond. The FAA said these restrictions began at about 6:40 p.m. EDT, and that departures from the affected airports had not taken place since that time.
A person briefed on the situation described the odor as a burning smell, and said it appeared similar to the issue that led the FAA to halt air traffic at the same facility on March 13. In that earlier incident the FAA reported it paused work because of a strong chemical smell that was linked to an overheated circuit board.
Flight tracking information indicated immediate operational impacts. Flightradar24 reported that inbound flights to the region were either holding in the air or diverting to alternate airports. The FAA said an update on the situation was expected around 8:00 p.m. EDT.
FlightAware, which monitors flight status, reported elevated delay rates in the affected airports' operations: approximately 25% of flights at Baltimore and Reagan National were delayed, while Dulles was reporting delays on about 11% of its flights.
This marks the second occurrence in roughly two weeks in which an odor at the Warrenton facility has disrupted regional aviation traffic. Officials provided limited detail about the source of the latest smell beyond the account from the briefed individual comparing it to the prior incident.
Context and operational notes
The Potomac Consolidated TRACON is responsible for sequencing and separating arriving and departing aircraft across a broad swath of Washington-area airspace. Evacuation of such a facility necessitates temporary traffic management actions, including ground stops and holding patterns for inbound flights, which were observed during this event.
Authorities indicated they would provide further information as it became available, with an initial update scheduled for 8:00 p.m. EDT on the same evening as the ground stops.