Air traffic at Washington’s Reagan National Airport was halted late Monday morning after a fire alarm in the control tower forced a temporary shutdown of all flights.
The FAA said there was no fire, but all traffic stopped between 10:45 and 12:00, causing delays of over 30 minutes into the afternoon as operations resumed. The tower was declared fully operational by midday.
The incident briefly added to concerns over aviation safety at Reagan, the site of the deadliest U.S. plane crash since 2001, when an Army helicopter collided with an American Airlines jet, killing 67 people. That tragedy, along with later crashes and near-misses, has kept safety at the forefront of air travel discussions.