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Chemical odor at Potomac TRACON evacuates controllers, triggers ground stops at DCA, IAD and BWI

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A strong chemical odor at the Potomac TRACON forced evacuation of air traffic controllers Friday and prompted FAA ground stops at Reagan National (DCA), Dulles (IAD) and Baltimore/Washington (BWI); the smell, blamed on an overheating circuit board, disrupted operations and caused delays expected through at least midnight.

Discovered 2026-03-13T15:24:50.815995-07:00 | 2026-03-13T15:24:50.815995-07:00

Briefing

What Hype is tracking

  • Ground stops at DCA, IAD and BWI after the Potomac TRACON evacuation disrupted evening operations and forced widespread delays, with FAA saying impacts could last until at least midnight.
  • The odor was traced to an overheating circuit board that impaired controller habitability, highlighting facility-level equipment and resilience risks to air-traffic operations; see a prior FAA equipment outage that forced manual handoffs (source:b4900a9a-a308-41af-b8ba-d2bb1ecc3632).
  • ATC evacuations and terminal clearances produce cascade effects across airline schedules and airport throughput, reinforcing lessons from recent ATC staffing and evacuation events (source:fd47b29d-db7d-4934-9f64-7093a95dc7d2) and terminal evacuations (source:12949aac-5fde-4c36-b03b-1a42dfbac55a).

Reported By

CNN thebulkheadseat.com The Hill The Independent the-independent.com Simple Flying
Sources Tracked
15
First Seen
2026-03-13T15:24:50.815995-07:00
Latest Update
2026-03-14T21:09:58.247693-07:00
Coverage
Aviation

Sources

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