FAA Halts All Flights Across the United States
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) stopped all aircraft departures nationwide on Friday afternoon after communication problems at air traffic control centers. Planes already airborne may land.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the agency that regulates civil aviation, halted all flights across the United States on Friday afternoon, citing "extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety." Aircraft already in the air are allowed to land, but no new departures are permitted.
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on X that the ground stop relates to a communication issue affecting air traffic control centers, and that agency technicians are investigating. The move followed widespread reports of radio frequency outages at several of the country's most critical centers, including those in Boston, Chicago and New York. Controllers use these frequencies to talk to pilots and monitor airspace safety. An FAA spokesperson gave no further details.
Rare step and possible consequences
Nationwide ground stops are uncommon. The FAA stopped all air traffic on September 11, 2001. In January 2023, a ground stop followed an outage of NOTAM, a system that distributes real-time data and warnings to pilots.
Susan Hotle, a transportation engineering professor at Virginia Tech who previously worked at the FAA, said the event shows the need to modernize air traffic control, since a single system failure can affect a wide region. Earlier on Friday, Duffy had asked congressional leaders to act quickly on the Transportation Department's request for $30.1 billion to update the system.
Michael McCormick, a professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and a former air traffic controller, warned that if the outage lasts more than a couple of hours, airlines and passengers would need days to recover, with aircraft and crews out of position.
The FAA said this week it had rolled out a new AI tool to advise controllers. Air Space Intelligence, the contractor behind it, stated that the ground stop is not connected to its systems. At San Francisco International Airport, flights had already been delayed by high winds, and confused travelers queued to speak with airline staff. The story is developing.
