October 8, 2024 11:33 AM

Navy Yard Shooting: Flights Grounded at Washington's Reagan National Airport Following Incident

Flights resumed at Washington's Reagan National Airport following the Navy Yard shooting. All departures had been grounded following the tragic even in Washington D.C.

According to USA Today, departures started taking off again at 10:30 a.m., but the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) that operates the airport warned that there would be "residual delays as we return to normal operations."

All departures had been put on halt for at least 30 minutes and some arrivals were delayed after the Federal Aviation Administration issued a "ground stop" for National-bound flights that had not yet left for Reagan National Airport.

According to Rob Yingling, spokesman for MWAA, the FAA's decision was a result of the "law enforcement incident at the Washington Navy Yard."

According to WUSA Channel 9, about 30 planes were being held on the ground by 10 a.m. Operations were not affected at Washington's Dulles International Airport, which is about 30 miles from downtown Washington.

The shooting occurred at the Washington Navy Yard facility, which is just a few miles from the airport. It is not clear why the shooting caused flights to be affected, but USA Today claims that it may have been done to reduce commercial air traffic at a time when emergency response aircraft are flying in the area surrounding the Navy Yard.

John Williams, 23, was one of those arriving on a flight after the shooting. Hi flight, US Airways Express Flight 3224 from West Palm Beach, had to wait on the tarmac to get permission to proceed to the gate. He said the pilot told passengers about the shooting.

"The pilot said that there was a shooting and no planes are allowed to depart so the airport is full of planes waiting to take off," Williams told USA Today. "They let us land. It will be 15 minutes until we can park at gate." He said many passengers were on their phones, explaining that they were going to miss their connecting flight.

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