Three major Washington, D.C.-area airports — Ronald Reagan National, Dulles International, and Baltimore/Washington International — were placed under immediate ground stops Friday after a strong, unexplained odor forced the shutdown of Potomac TRACON.
The facility in Warrenton, Virginia, serves as the single radar control center for all civilian and military airspace over the entire capital region, including Andrews Air Force Base, Richmond International and multiple other airports.
🚨BREAKING🚨 GROUND STOP CURRENTLY AT THE FOLLOWING AIRPORTS:
— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) March 13, 2026
⚠️ Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)
⚠️ Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD)
⚠️ Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI)⁰⚠️ Richmond International Airport (RIC)@FAANews is working to…
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed the outage stemmed directly from the odor inside the critical TRACON.
The FAA later lifted the ground stops, but massive delays continued.
