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All three major D.C.-area airports were under a ground stop Friday evening due to a “strong smell” at a Federal Aviation Administration facility in Virginia.
A spokesman with the FAA confirmed with WTOP that air traffic was temporarily stopped after a strong smell was reported at the Potomac Consolidated Terminal RADAR Approach Control facility in Warrenton, Virginia.
According to the Fauquier County Fire Rescue System the source of the smell was an IT cabinet housing an overheated UPS battery backup in a breakroom on the first floor of the facility located at 3699 Macintosh Drive.
The facility was deemed safe and all personnel were able to reenter the facility and resume work duties at 7:30 p.m., according to the statement.
The Potomac Consolidated TRACON site provides air traffic control services to the Baltimore-Washington and Richmond-Charlottesville areas.
Reagan National Airport, Dulles International Airport and BWI Marshall Airport were all impacted by the ground stop, as well as Charlottesville-Albemarle and Richmond International airports. Delays remained at Reagan National for a period of time.
Tom Roussey, with WTOP news partner 7News, told WTOP’s Nick Iannelli from inside Reagan National on Friday night that the departures board showed mostly delays and cancellations.
“They’ve had some other sort of evacuation that led to all this,” Roussey said of the TRACON facility.
“They schedule these flights so close together (nowadays), that one thing could just throw everything off. Expect this to potentially affect flights even into tomorrow.”
A similar incident occurred at the Potomac TRACON facility two weeks ago when a circuit board overheated.
