D.C. air traffic control hotline to the Pentagon hasn’t worked for 3 years, FAA official confirms

A hotline that allowed air traffic controllers at National Airport to communicate directly with the Pentagon has been broken for more than 3 years, a Federal Aviation Administration official confirmed Wednesday.

Franklin McIntosh, the FAA’s deputy chief operating officer, also revealed during testimony before a Senate committee that the FAA didn’t know the hotline was broken until another near-miss at the airport May 1. Air traffic controllers at DCA had to stop two planes from landing because an Army helicopter was circling the Pentagon.

The hotline, maintained by the Department of Defense, has been inoperable since March of 2022, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas., said during his questioning.

“We were not aware, but we became aware after that event. And now that we became aware of that event, we’re insisting on that line to be fixed before we resume any operations out of the Pentagon,” McIntosh said.

McIntosh said controllers have landline capabilities to relay information to the Pentagon. There was no timeline for when the direct hotline will be fixed.

The events followed a deadly January crash between an American Airlines jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter. All 67 people aboard both aircraft died, making it the deadliest airline crash in the U.S. in more than two decades.

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