Any Unknown or Unlisted Aircraft Manufacturer
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Confusion; Situational Awareness
ATC Issue All Types
General None Reported / Taken
Procedure; Human Factors
The Operations Manager (OM) came over with a list of outages and told the Controller In Charge (CIC) that this stuff was out on the hour. The CIC replied you mean now; the OM said yes and walked off. That list of outages included 1 frequency that we were using in the area; all guard frequencies for the area; all standby frequencies and multiple landlines. Minutes later the Luray Controller feeding me aircraft on the FRDMM and TRUPPS descending via lost communications with all aircraft; this was the frequency that was listed on the outages. As the word started getting around that Luray lost frequency's it was also discovered that the SHD area also lost 3 frequency's with no notice. The whole TRACON turned into chaos and people scrambled to get in contact with aircraft. Aircraft #1 was descending via to 060 while Aircraft #2 was lost in the SHD area eastbound at 060. Aircraft #2 was pointed out to me but I told them that all my aircraft from the west were descending to 060 and we had lost communications with them. I made multiple calls on Guard but I don't think they were heard due to Guard being released to maintenance. Aircraft #1 finally checked in with me saying he was at 080 and staying there until he figured out what was going on. I think he saw Aircraft #2 on TCAS at 060 and took it on himself to stay separated because the 'descend via' would have put him at 060 and a near midair with Aircraft #2. This is just one of many events that need to be looked at between the SHD and MTV areas at PCT. It was sheer luck that we didn't have many errors and I believe that aircraft used TCAS while descending via on multiple arrivals to separate themselves. First; the breakdown started with the OM that released 2 pages of things including busy frequencies; guard; and landlines with no thought or advanced notice on the operation. This should have been done on a late night shift. Secondly; the 'descend via' to 060 on the TRUPPS/FRDMM into DCA on Runway 19 needs to stop. The MTV area as a whole had complained since it was being developed last year that this was unsafe and would result in an error. Our concerns were ignored; the procedures were published and we have problems everyday on these 2 STARS. These STARS need to stay at 080 of we are going to have a major deal just northwest of DCA. This entire operation at PCT needs to be looked at. It was ugly; I've been doing ATC for a long time and this made me very unsettled.
PCT Controller described an unsafe chaotic situation when multiple frequencies were released by a supervisor to Maintenance with very little warning and/or planning with regard to impact.