Much U.S. air traffic was suddenly halted Friday after the Federal Aviation Administration ordered a nationwide stopover for all departing flights “due to extraordinary circumstances and for safety reasons.”
The unusual alert, issued at 3:54 p.m. ET, contained no information other than that “all departing traffic should remain stopped on the ground until further notice.”
Follow us for live coverage.
“Incoming international flights will be handled on a case-by-case basis,” the FAA said.
Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, is at capacity and Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport is near capacity, meaning there is no place to park planes, a knowledgeable source told NBC News. It is possible that some of these planes will be forced to divert to other airports.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there was “no indication at this time” that there was anything “nefarious” that caused the ground stop. He explained that it was the result of a telecommunications outage “at the moment”.
Mullin said President Donald Trump was briefed and they are “not ruling anything out at this stage” as to the cause of the communication problem. He said those currently in the air have no reason to worry.
“We are assured that everyone is safe,” he said, adding that this was unprecedented.
“FAA technicians are investigating the issue,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in an online message. “We will provide immediate updates as soon as we have them.”
Aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti called the outage “extraordinary” and said he did not know what the cause would be.
Guzzetti emphasized that pilots are trained to operate in the event of communications outages and that there are redundancies in place for such cases. Pilots “could obtain relayed information through other means” to ensure planes are properly spaced for landing.
He added that the situation is transforming from a security problem to a massive logistical problem.
Airports could quickly become filled with planes trying to land, as planes currently at the airport cannot take off. Grounded planes may need to move and park on taxiways, Guzzetti said.
There are different layers of communications: high altitude, mid-level, and then the ground towers. High-altitude control centers are affected by the outage.
Shortly before the FAA issued its alert, Chicago’s two main airports — O’Hare International Airport and Midway International Airport — were placed on ground alert due to an “equipment failure,” NBC Chicago reported.
Deveren Werne was on an American Airlines plane about to take off from Indianapolis to Chicago when suddenly the pilots announced that all flights were grounded.
“At first the pilot announced that there was some kind of radio problem,” Werne, 55, of Greenville, South Carolina, told NBC News in a telephone interview. “Then, a little later, the pilot said something like, ‘There’s something more serious going on than that.'”
Werne, a consultant who helps manufacturers and other industries adapt AI technology, said he travels frequently and this is a first for him. He said there had been “a mix of emotions” from other passengers upon hearing the announcement.
“Then I started hearing from other friends who were on planes, including one in Chicago who was stuck on a runway,” Werne said. “Right now our plane is heading back to the terminal so at least we’ll be able to disembark.”
At Newark Liberty International Airport, control tower staff said the situation was “an absolute disaster right now,” according to LiveATC. “We are running out of space” and “there are major door issues” were also heard on the live audio feed.
“I’m as much in the dark as everyone else. I’m not getting any information from anyone,” a controller in Newark said, according to the wire.
United Airlines released a statement acknowledging the ground stop. “United flights already in the air will continue,” the statement said. “New domestic flights will not leave as long as the FAA ground stop remains in place.”
Nationwide ground stops are extremely rare.
After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the FAA ordered an unprecedented nationwide ground check. All civilian air traffic in U.S. airspace was halted and airborne aircraft were ordered to land at the nearest available airports.
In January 2023, the FAA grounded all flights, due to a failure in the air mission advisory system, which alerts pilots to a multitude of potential dangers.
Gn headline
