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DC airport ground stop: FAA issues update on Potomac TRACON; first details on ‘chemical smell’
Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport is among the DC airports where a ground stop was issued by the FAA after a strong chemical smell.
Update: Transport Secretary Sean Duffy shared “The ground stop is over and operations have resumed. Firefighters from Fauquier County and Prince William County confirm there is no danger to air traffic controllers, and they are returning to the Potomac TRACON. The source of the strong odor was traced to a circuit board that overheated, and it was replaced.”
Original story: Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport is among the Washington DC area airports where a ground stop was issued by the FAA on Friday. This came after a strong chemical smell was detected at the the Potomac traffic control facility or the Potomac Consolidated TRACON.
It supports air traffic control in the area, and TRACON stands for Terminal RADAR Approach Control.
The message from the FAA read “The FAA has temporarily stopped traffic at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) and Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI) because of a strong chemical smell at the Potomac TRACON (in Warrenton, VA) that is impacting some air traffic controllers.”
Transport Secretary Sean Duffy also addressed the incident and wrote the FAA was ‘working to address the source of a strong odor coming from Potomac TRACON that is impacting operations at the three airports.’
The stop is expected to be until 7 pm.
Independent journalist Nick Sortor shared an update on the chemical smell, saying “No word on what the substance in the air is.”
Full list of airports impacted
Apart from Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BMI) the other airports in the DC area to be impacted include Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) and Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD).
Richmond International Airport, Philadelphia International Airport and several others have also been impacted. PHL is only under a ground delay as per local reports and this is due to an equipment outage.
Reactions to news of DC airports ground stop
Several people reacted to the news of the ground stop impacting the DC area airports. “The FAA is relocating controllers to a training facility to maintain operations, though some incoming flights are being diverted due to congestion,” one person claimed.
Another remarked “lot of personel at union station and a bunch of airport groundings around DC and ppl are still denying that anything is happening.”
Yet another said “That’s a pretty significant disruption for the whole DC airspace. If Potomac TRACON is affected, it makes sense that flights at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Washington Dulles International Airport, Baltimore-Washington International Airport, and Richmond International Airport would be halted. Hope they quickly identify the source of the odor and get controllers back to normal operations safely. That corridor handles a huge amount of traffic every day.”
