The Federal Aviation Administration issued a nationwide ground stop on Friday afternoon, halting all departing flights across United States airports due to extraordinary circumstances in the air traffic control network.
FAA Halts All Departures
The nationwide halt took effect as the FAA ordered all airports to hold departing traffic. Officials implemented extended flight plan drop times to 240 minutes for all en route centers as technical teams addressed the stoppage. PCMag Australia ET.
Airports quickly filled with parked aircraft and waiting travelers. Videos from terminals nationwide showed crowds checking departure boards and scrolling on phones while airlines began sorting through widespread disruptions. FlightAware’s Misery Map showed a sea of red featuring at least 2,400 delays and 38 cancellations.
The @FAAnews issued a nationwide ground stop for all U. S. airports following a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers. FAA technicians are investigating the issue. We will provide immediate updates as we have them.
FlightAware tracked 12,046 airborne aircraft as of 5 p.m. EST. FlightRadar24 showed more than 1,000 aircraft airborne and headed for U.S. airports. Flighty counted more than 30,000 departures and arrivals scheduled for the rest of the day. Before that on Friday, the agency stopped flights to Midway and O’Hare airports in Chicago due to technical difficulties, alongside reporting equipment troubles causing delays in Phoenix, Houston, Orlando, Teterboro, Las Vegas, and Newark.
Technicians immediately began troubleshooting the core systems. A spokesperson for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey told Gizmodo it was referring all questions to the FAA and did not know if planes were taking off at John F.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwyane Mullin says this isn't a public safety issue but "a telecommunication outage:" "We were wanting to assure all the American people this isn't a safety to the American people, or another 9/11. I think that's what a lot of people are trying to… pic.twitter.com/48FWWQLLCQ
Air Route Traffic Control Centers Face Communication Failure
Technicians immediately began troubleshooting the core systems.
A spokesperson for the FAA confirmed that a ground stop had been issued following communication issues impacting multiple Air Route Traffic Control Centers. “FAA technicians are investigating the issue” an FAA spokesperson said.
Department of Homeland Security Rules Out Security Threats
Federal officials moved quickly to reassure the public that the technical malfunction was not linked to any malicious act or security threat.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there is no fear to the public. “Flights are accounted for, and there should be no fear to the public at all.” Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said, adding that everyone is safe.
Mullin also said that this is not another 9/11, saying that people are making that assumption because that was the last time there was a nationwide ground stoppage, but that this is a telecommunication outage and is much different.
“There's no indication as of yet that this is a nefarious attack against us.” Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said, describing it as a telecommunications outage implemented out of an abundance of caution. Reporters also asked Mullin if the ground stops were linked to the widespread Microsoft outage. Mullin replied that he did not see any reason to connect those at all.
Mullin said that inbound international flights would be handled on a case-by-case basis under the emergency advisory. American Airlines warned that disruptions were expected for the rest of the day.
Third Nationwide Ground Stop in Aviation History
Friday’s order is only the third nationwide ground stop in recent aviation history. The first occurred during the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, when civilian departures halted and airborne aircraft were ordered to land until commercial flights resumed on September 13.
A nationwide suspension of all flights previously took place in January 2023 because of a failure in the Notice to Air Missions network. Initial investigations showed that temporary workers accidentally removed data files while trying to fix data syncing between primary and backup databases. The administration uncovered zero proof pointing to a cyber-attack or malicious motives.
What caused the exact communication failure across multiple Air Route Traffic Control Centers, and when full network operations will resume, remains unknown.
