A direct hotline between the Pentagon and air traffic controllers at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) has been down since March 2022, a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) official has confirmed.
During a Senate hearing on May 14, 2025 Senator Ted Cruz asked Franklin McIntosh, the FAA’s Deputy Chief Operating Officer, about the issue and learned that the hotline has been out of service for three years.
The questioning between the Senator and McIntosh centered on a tragic midair collision in January 2025 between Bombardier CRJ700 aircraft, flying as American Airlines Flight 5342, and a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk military helicopter.
During the hearing, McIntosh stated that the FAA was unaware the hotline was not functional until another near-miss at DCA on May 1, 2025, when air traffic controllers at DCA had to prevent two aircraft from landing because of an Army helicopter flying around the Pentagon.
“We take safety responsibilities extremely seriously in the FAA and we were not aware [the hotline was broken]. Now that we have become aware of that event, we are insisting upon that line to be fixed before we resume any of the operations out of the Pentagon,” McIntosh said during Cruz’s questioning.
McIntosh stated that there is currently no set date for fixing the hotline, as the FAA is waiting for the US Department of Defense (DoD) to speed up the process. He also said that controllers can currently use landlines to communicate with the Pentagon.
“We still have landline abilities, we can make phone calls from the Helipad to the operation, so the supervisor or even the air traffic controller can answer. If there was a departure clearance needed, we would be able to relay it via that mechanism,” McIntosh explained.
The hearing was conducted to examine the progress and delays encountered in applying the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024.
May 16, 2025, will mark one year since the act was implemented. It outlines congressional priorities for the agency’s mission to ensure “the safest, most efficient aerospace system.” Senator Cruz noted that the FAA has met the requirements of more than 70 sections of the law and is still working on the rest.
