WASHINGTON, May 14 (Reuters) - A hotline connecting the

Pentagon and Federal Aviation Administration air traffic

controllers at Reagan Washington National Airport has been

inoperable since March 2022, an FAA official told a Senate

committee on Wednesday.

The U.S. Army said May 5 it was suspending helicopter

training flights in the vicinity of the Pentagon after two

passenger airline flights were forced to abort landings at

Reagan because a Black Hawk helicopter was flying nearby.

Franklin McIntosh, the FAA's deputy head of air traffic control,

told the Senate Commerce Committee, said the agency would not

allow the Pentagon to resume the helicopter flights until the

hotline is fixed.