Hotline connecting Pentagon, DC airport controllers inoperable since 2022

WASHINGTON, May 14 (Reuters) - A hotline connecting the Pentagon and Federal Aviation Administration air traffic controllers at Reagan Washington National Airport has been inoperable since March 2022, an FAA official told a Senate committee on Wednesday.

The U.S. Army said May 5 it was suspending helicopter training flights in the vicinity of the Pentagon after two passenger airline flights were forced to abort landings at Reagan because a Black Hawk helicopter was flying nearby. Franklin McIntosh, the FAA's deputy head of air traffic control, told the Senate Commerce Committee, said the agency would not allow the Pentagon to resume the helicopter flights until the hotline is fixed.