A hotline that provided direct communication between the Pentagon and the air traffic control tower at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport has not functioned since March 2022, a Federal Aviation Administration official confirmed Wednesday.
The public acknowledgment came during a hearing of the Senate Commerce Committee, when Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas asked FAA officials about the deadly January collision between an Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines regional jet that was approaching the airport for landing. Sixty-seven people were killed in that crash.
Franklin J. McIntosh, the FAA's deputy chief operating officer, said the agency didn't know at the time of the accident that the hotline wasn't functioning.
"We were not aware, but we became aware after that event, and now that we became aware of that event we're insisting upon that line to be fixed before we resume any operations out of the Pentagon," he said.
The FAA said in a statement to NPR that a "dedicated, direct access line" between the airport and the Pentagon's Army Heliport "has been out since 2022 due to the construction of a new tower at the Pentagon. The two facilities continue to communicate via telephone for coordination."
The Army did not respond to requests for comment.
An Army unit halted training flights in the National Capital Region — which includes Washington, D.C., and nearby areas in Maryland and Virginia — on May 5, less than two weeks after it had resumed flights again following a pause in response to the January crash.
That decision came after two commercial aircraft had to abort their landings at DCA on May 1, because an Army helicopter on a training mission had gotten too close to their flight path.
Margaret Wallace, a Florida Institute of Technology professor who teaches air traffic control, said it's common for air traffic control facilities to have hotlines to other critical offices, such as weather agencies, government buildings and military facilities.
"You just push a button, and it directly rings to that facility or that agency that they need to coordinate with," she said.
Wallace, who was also an air traffic controller in the U.S. Air Force, said hotlines can be useful to communicate with people who aren't on the radio communications that controllers use. "Maybe it's the commander at an Air Force base. He's not sitting there listening to radios, but it's a direct line to him. Or a direct line to the White House," she said.
In the hearing Wednesday, when Cruz asked when the hotline would be working again, McIntosh said he expects the Defense Department to "expedite that timeline so they can begin their operations."
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