A fight inside one of the nation’s most sensitive aviation facilities — the air traffic control tower at Reagan National Airport — has led to assault and battery charges against a federal air traffic controller.
According to reports, 38-year-old Damon Marsalis Gaines, an employee of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), was arrested following an alleged violent altercation with a colleague inside the tower at Washington, D.C.’s Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on March 27. The FAA has since placed Gaines on administrative leave pending an investigation.
Sources told the Daily Mail that two on-duty controllers engaged in a heated argument that quickly escalated when one threw a punch. The scuffle became so intense that blood was reportedly “spattered over a control console” before the two men were separated.
A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority confirmed the incident, though details about what caused the altercation remain unknown. The FAA stated, “The employee is on administrative leave while we investigate the matter.” The National Air Traffic Controllers Association, the union representing controllers, has declined to comment.
As of now, it is unclear if Gaines has retained legal counsel. He did not respond to requests for comment from CNN.
The fight comes as Reagan National faces growing scrutiny over a string of safety incidents. Just days before the tower altercation, a kite reportedly struck a United Airlines plane approaching the airport. Last week, a Delta Air Lines flight narrowly avoided a mid-air collision with a military aircraft near the same airspace.
These events follow a deadly January crash involving an Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines jet just south of the airport — the worst aviation accident in the United States since 2001, killing 67 people.
According to a recent National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report, Reagan National experienced over 15,000 “close proximity events” between aircraft and helicopters from October 2021 to December 2024 — a staggering figure that raises serious concerns about air safety near the capital.
The news of a physical altercation in the tower only adds to the sense that all is not well at the FAA’s D.C. operations hub.
Control towers are designed to be among the most secure, high-discipline workplaces in the country. Controllers are responsible for the lives of thousands of passengers every day. Any breakdown in professionalism — let alone a violent brawl — threatens to undermine public confidence in the integrity of the system.
While administrative leave is standard procedure during an investigation, the optics of the situation — bloody violence in one of the nation’s most important air traffic control centers — is likely to fuel political and public pressure for answers. Congressional oversight committees may not be far behind.
Gaines’ fate, and that of the other controller involved, now rests in the hands of law enforcement and the FAA’s internal review process. But the broader question looms: what’s happening inside the FAA, and why is one of America’s most crucial airports seemingly in disarray?
For now, the skies over Washington remain turbulent — and not just because of what’s flying overhead.
