A hotline between Washington, D.C. military and civilian air traffic controllers may have caused another hot call close to Miss, which was caused by the cause, shortly after U.S. troops resumed flying helicopters in the area.

Frank McIntosh, a federal aviation administration official who runs air traffic controllers, confirmed that the agency didn’t even know that the hotline has not worked since March 2022 until the latest turnover. He said civilian controllers still have other means to communicate with their military counterparts via landlines. Nevertheless, the FAA insists on fixing the hotline before helicopter flights near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport resume.

"Working with the FAA to resolve the direct communication line between the Pentagon mattress and DCA towers and determine what repairs are required for recovery services," the military said in a statement Wednesday. DCA is the code for Reagan Airport.

It said the Army “continues to restrict flights to the Pentagon Pad and only conduct mission-based operations until maintenance lines or improved communications procedures are implemented and accepted by the FAA.”

The dedicated direct access line between air traffic controllers on Reagan and the Pentagon Army helicopters and the Pentagon Army helicopters has not been working due to a new tower built in the Pentagon. But the FAA said: “The two facilities continue to be coordinated over the phone.”

"The development of DCA in its airspace is very worrying," Cruz said. "The committee remains focused on monitoring the safe return of DCA to operations and ensuring that all users in the airspace operate responsibly."

The army suspended all helicopter flights around Reagan Airport after the latest Miss Close, but McIntosh said the FAA was about to order the army to stop flying due to safety concerns.

"We did have a discussion," McIntosh told the Senate Commerce Committee during the hearing.

"They didn't realize the fact that this connection has been a problem for three years without a job," said Jeff Guzzetti, a former NTSB and FAA accident investigator. But when the controller had other ways of communicating, he was not entirely clear about the purpose of the hotline.

But Guzzetti believes the Army needs to know more about what it does to ensure the airspace around Washington remains safe. Since the crash, the Army has sometimes refused to provide information requested by Congress, and officials have not answered all questions at the last hearing.

"DCA airspace is a hot spot for white people. Therefore, the military must be more transparent and confident in dealing with this issue," Guzzetti said.

According to U.S. officials, one action being considered now is to get the Army to notify any flights around the national airport 24 hours a day. The official talked on anonymous because no decision was made and discussions were underway.

A crash between a U.S. Airlines plane and an Army helicopter in January killed 67 people, the deadliest plane crash since 2001. The National Transportation Safety Commission said there was a shocking 85 people near the mistakes around Reagan in the three years before the crash.

Since the crash, the FAA has tried to ensure military helicopters never share the same airspace as the planes, but controllers have to order two aircraft to abort landing on May 1 as an army helicopter near the Pentagon hovered.

"The FAA closed the helicopter route after a fatal crash near Reagan National Airport, but the lack of coordination between the FAA and the Department of Defense continues to put the flying public at risk," said Senator Tammy Duckworth.

McIntosh said helicopters should never enter the airspace around Reagan Airport without permission from the air traffic controller.

"That didn't happen," he said. "My problem - I think the bigger problem is - why not? Without our procedures and policies, this is where the safe drift started to happen."

NTSB is investigating what happened.

In addition to this incident, commercial flights from Reagan Airport, which took place hundreds of feet of four military planes, headed to the overpass of the Arlington National Cemetery, had to take evasive action. McIntosh blamed the incident on poor communication between the FAA air traffic controller at the regional facility and Reagan's tower, which he said has been resolved.

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Associated Press writer Lolita C. Baldor contributed to the report.