WASHINGTON (REUTERS) – Officials halted flights into and out of Reagan Washington National Airport for about 13 minutes on Thursday (July 21) after a drone sighting was reported, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said.
The FAA said it immediately notified law enforcement and said operations have resumed but there were some residual delays.
The FAA did not immediately respond to a question about whether the drone or the operator was located.
The area around Washington National Airport has the strictest prohibitions on drones in the United States.
Flying a drone within the 15-mile radius (24km) of the airport is prohibited without specific FAA authorisation, a requirement that covers all of Washington, DC.
The FlightAware.com tracking service said 90 flights at National had been delayed, or 20 per cent, and seven were cancelled.
Washington National is the closest airport to the US capital and used by many lawmakers and other government officials.
A 2019 drone sighting near New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport required 45 flights to hold while nine flights were diverted.
Last week, the US Congress held a hearing in which lawmakers and US sports leagues backed a bid by the White House for expanded powers to detect and disable threatening drones.
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