The Federal Aviation Administration took responsibility Friday for a planned but not widely known parachuting incident Wednesday night that led to an evacuation of the U.S. Capitol.
The FAA apologized for not alerting the U.S. Capitol Police of its plans for the Army Golden Knights to parachute into Nationals Park, where the Washington Nationals baseball team was hosting the Arizona Diamondbacks, on Wednesday night, an incident that led to “disruption and fear.”
“We deeply regret that we contributed to a precautionary evacuation of the Capitol complex and apologize for the disruption and fear experienced by those who work there,” the FAA said in a statement.
PELOSI SLAMS FAA, COMPARES NATIONALS PARACHUTE STUNT TO CAPITOL RIOT
The agency said it did alert an air traffic control tower at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, but the message was not relayed to Capitol police. The failure in communication caused a “probable threat” evacuation.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi slammed the FAA for causing unnecessary panic a year after the Jan. 6 riot.
“The Federal Aviation Administration’s apparent failure to notify Capitol Police of the pre-planned flyover Nationals Stadium is outrageous and inexcusable,” Pelosi said Wednesday. “The unnecessary panic caused by this apparent negligence was particularly harmful for Members, staff and institutional workers still grappling with the trauma of the attack on their workplace on January 6th.”
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The FAA is conducting an internal investigation into the incident to prevent similar situations.
