Air traffic controllers at Washington Dulles International Airport in Chantilly, Va., were evacuated after smoke and fumes were reported in the tower cab at about 10 a.m. on Wednesday. The controllers were moved to a nearby backup facility for about three hours while the tower was aired out, and nearby construction equipment, the source of the fumes, was moved away from the tower. About five controllers were taken to the hospital to be checked, according to Kieron Heflin, the facility representative for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA). “We ran operations out of our little ramp tower, but we had no computer connections, no radar, no flight plans. We had radios and yellow legal pads and pencils. It was like working out of a tent,” Heflin told AVweb. He said some aircraft were delayed, but as far as he knows there were no cancellations. “The computers that would keep track of all that weren’t available, so I don’t really know,” he said. Airport spokesman Robert Yingling told The Associated Press on Wednesday morning that flights were not affected.
