[Guns N' Coffee]

https://www.flyingmag.com/faa-orders...-all-airports/

The FAA has ordered a national ground stop due to “extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety.”

It is the second time since the 9/11 attacks that the agency has ordered a ground stop at all airports. The previous instance was in January 2023 following the failure of the Notices to Airmen (NOTAM) system.

“The FAA issued a nationwide ground stop for all U.S. airports following communication issues impacting multiple Air Route Traffic Control Centers,” the agency said in a statement Friday afternoon. “FAA technicians are investigating the issue. We will provide updates.”

Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ARTCCs) provide aircraft separation, traffic sequencing, routing assistance, and airspace coordination services to aircraft operating on IFR flight plans within controlled airspace, primarily during the en route phase of flight. They are divided into sectors, each handled by one or a team of air traffic controllers.

There are 22 ARTCCs in the U.S.

Per an Air Traffic Control System Command Center advisory from the FAA that has since been deleted:

“Due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety. Attention all aircraft operators, by order of the Federal Aviation Command Center all airports are ground stopped. All departing traffic should remain ground stopped until further notice. Inbound international flights will be managed on a case by case basis.”

A controller at William P. Hobby Airport (KHOU) in Houston said at 4:13 p.m. EST that “our update time is 7 hours and 15 minutes from now,” or around 11:30 p.m.

Air traffic controllers across the U.S. reported the ground stop.

A ground controller at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (KSEA) was one of the first to report the disruption, telling the pilot of a Southwest Airlines airplane that “we went into a national ground stop, all aircraft, with update unknown.” The transmission was made a little after 3:30 p.m. EST.

“Are you saying national, like Reagan National [Airport], or national the whole country?” another pilot asked a few minutes later.

“Across all en route facilities they’re having communication issues, so ground stop for all aircraft, with update time unknown,” the controller replied.

Elsewhere, a controller at Minneapolis-St. Paul International (KMSP) said at 3:44 p.m. EST that “all airports are ground stopped until 22:00 Zulu for a nationwide outage.” 22:00 Zulu translates to 5 p.m. EST.

This is a developing story.

[Nitro187]

Likely due to the AI rollout they did 21 hours ago....

[chris]

Now much information coming out yet, other then them saying people in the air are safe.

[Vash_227]

Curious..

[kellyhound]

Federal Aviation Administration told that the outage originated with a problem in network routers at Chicago Midway International Airport that cascaded nationwide. The telecommunications breakdown has disrupted critical air traffic control infrastructure, including radars and radio frequencies.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin stated that officials still do not know what triggered the router malfunction and are not ruling out any possibilities, though there is currently no indication of a cyberattack.

Roughly 11,000 flights have now been delayed or canceled nationwide, with about 600 airborne flights forced to divert to alternate airports.

[Vash_227]

Those trains in Spain also had communication problems or something like that right?

[kellyhound]

Originally Posted by Vash_227 ↗

Those trains in Spain also had communication problems or something like that right?

Yup and then humans have to take over and then the real shit hits the fan as we are relying heavy on automated systems and humans kinda lose the skills to do shit ourselves.

The three-decade-old German LZB automated safety system went offline on the Madrid–Seville line, which forced traffic controllers in Madrid to manage train positions manually over a 39-mile stretch.

At a White House press briefing, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy stated that aging network switches and routers became overloaded with data during a system upgrade, producing inconsistent radar and communications data. Duffy stated that the $12.5 billion Congress approved last year for aviation upgrades was insufficient.

Officials stated that new technology being installed overwhelmed older, analog switches and routers, causing data inconsistencies.

He called on Congress to approve $50 billion for a complete overhaul of the outdated air traffic control infrastructure.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin reiterated that there is currently zero evidence of a cyberattack, rogue AI intrusion, or connection to Thursday's global Microsoft outage.

Roughly 1.5 million passengers were stranded by the disruption. Because the outage was caused by federal infrastructure rather than the carriers, U.S. airlines are not required to provide financial compensation to stranded travelers.

Both Mullin and Duffy opened their remarks by praising President Donald Trump's leadership during the crisis, with Mullin telling reporters, "This is what the leadership of President Trump looks like".

When pressed by a news reporter on why Republicans, who control both the White House and Congress, had not already funded the overhaul, Duffy pushed back, noting that President Trump had previously requested $30 billion.

The administration's earlier $30 billion funding push and noting that Congress had only passed a $12.5 billion down payment so far.

The $30 billion figure refers to the Modern Skies Act, introduced on September 29, 2026, by Republican Senator Eric Schmitt and backed by Duffy and the FAA.

The White House and Department of Transportation had just launched a lobbying blitz on November 11, 2026, to drum up bipartisan support for the $30.1 billion request, two days before the nationwide ground stop occurred.

Because the bill was still awaiting action in Congress, there is no roll-call vote showing lawmakers voting against it.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries shifted blame back onto the White House, calling the outage the latest in a series of unacceptable air travel incidents under the Trump Administration's failed leadership.

Other congressional Democrats questioned whether the FAA's rapid, nationwide rollout of a new AI management tool earlier in the week contributed to overloading the legacy network.

The U.S. has experienced several high-profile aviation accidents and major system outages since January 2025. Aviation experts and officials point to decades-old infrastructure and staffing shortages spanning multiple administrations.

On January 29, 2025, nine days after Trump's inauguration, an Army helicopter collided midair with an American Eagle commuter jet near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, killing all 67 people aboard. This ended a nearly 16-year streak without a fatal commercial airline crash in the U.S.

In May 2025, severe air traffic control staffing shortages and equipment failures at Newark Liberty International Airport caused days of chaos, delaying or canceling hundreds of flights.

On September 21, 2026, a primary communications failure and a severed backup fiber-optic line at the Philadelphia TRACON facility disrupted over 7,000 flights across New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia.

Hakeem Jeffries argued that the administration's firing of federal workers, diversity policy rollbacks and rapid deployment of new software tools destabilized the FAA.

Aviation safety analysts also warned that the administration had been slow to address mounting strain on the aviation system.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin rejected claims of leadership failure, blaming the outages on 1980's-era copper wiring and outdated routers that were neglected by Congress and previous administrations for decades.

Independent safety experts note that many underlying issues—such as a nationwide shortage of roughly 3,000 air traffic controllers and aging telecommunications lines, predate 2025.

Additionally, the FAA reported that overall runway incursions actually dropped by 8% in 2025 compared to 2024 following the installation of new airport surface safety technology.