A “hotline” between air traffic controllers at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and the Pentagon intended to coordinate aircraft has not worked since March 2022, the Federal Aviation Administration revealed in a congressional hearing Wednesday.

A hotline connecting the Pentagon with air traffic controllers at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport has been “inoperable” since March 2022, a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) official revealed during a stunning Wednesday hearing on Capitol Hill.

A hotline between military and civilian air traffic controllers in Washington, D.C., that hasn’t worked for more than three years may have contributed to another near miss shortly after the U.S. Army resumed flying helicopters in the area for the first time since January’s deadly midair collision between a passenger jet and a Black Hawk