FAA Lifts Nationwide Ground Stop After Comms System Crash; Flight Disruptions Could Stretch Into Tomorrow

Original article here

The latest: 

• FAA Lifts Nationwide Ground Stop 
• FAA halts all departures nationwide; flights in the air allowed to continue
• First nationwide ground stop since the January 2023 NOTAM failure
• Duffy cites a communications failure hitting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers
• Comms failure due to network reboot/crash
• DHS’s Mullin calls it a telecom outage and says there’s no sign of an attack, “not another 9/11”
• Mullin says the fix will take “some time” and he can’t rule out an AI link
• Some international departures from the east and west coasts were being allowed

Duffy, Mullin Hold Press Briefing

FAA Ground Stop Has Been Lifted

At 8:19 p.m. EST, the FAA canceled a nationwide ground stop that began around 4:00 p.m. EST and stranded tens of thousands of passengers. This is the second such shutdown since the September 11, 2001, terror attacks

The shutdown snarled airports nationwide, with airlines canceling more than 1,000 flights and delaying more than 10,000, according to flight-tracking website FlightAware.

The Department of Homeland Security released a statement saying the disruption was not caused by a cyberattack. In fact, the outage appears to be related to a telecommunications network overseen by L3Harris Technologies

There is no official timeline for when normal flight operations will resume after the ground stop, but the widespread disruption suggests recovery could take hours, potentially into Saturday morning.

However, JetBlue provided some clarity, warning passengers that disruptions will last into tomorrow morning.

FAA Nationwide Ground Stop Caused By Network Reboot, System Crash; CBS Reports

More than 1,100 U.S. flights had been canceled and nearly 10,000 had been delayed as of Friday at 5:40 p.m. ET, according to FlightAware. As of around 4 p.m., there were still roughly 11,000 flights scheduled to depart from U.S. airports Friday, according to aviation analytics company Cirium.

Some international departures from the east and west coasts were being allowed to take off Friday evening, according to industry officials.

Polymarket predictions suggest the ground stop will be lifted around 2240ET. But after that, who knows how long until any kind of normal is resumed.

Caused By Network Update Crash, Reboot

The outage appears to be related to a telecommunications network overseen by L3Harris Technologies, according to people briefed on the matter.

The network handles crucial radio frequencies that air-traffic controllers use to communicate with pilots, the people said. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the outage also affected the radar feeds that controllers use to keep aircraft safely separated in the skies.

CBS News reporter Olivia Rinaldi says in a post on X, citing unidentified people, said an update to this private communications network that connects America’s air traffic control system caused the system to reboot, and when the FAA’s telecommunication infrastructure rebooted, it crashed, causing the communications outage. 

There is no confirmation of this report officially.

“Not Another 9/11”: DHS

Update (1707ET): DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin says that the ground stop is a telecommunications outage and not terrorism.

MULLIN: “This was a telecommunication outage throughout the FAA. Out of abundant caution, we have grounded all the flights, and all the flights are accounted for…“”There was no indication as of yet that this was a nefarious attack against us. It’s just a telecommunication outage as of right now.

“There’s no reason for the public to be afraid or scared for your loved ones,” Mullin said, adding this isn’t “another 9/11.”

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FAA: Full Ground Stop

The Federal Aviation Administration has ordered a nationwide ground stop on all departing flights due to technical issues. The agency has listed an equipment outage (with comms issues noted in advisories).

The order, issued by the FAA’s Air Traffic Control System Command Center at approximately 20:54 UTC (12:54 p.m. PST), applies to every U.S. airport. All aircraft still on the ground are to remain stopped until further notice. Flights already airborne are being allowed to continue to their destinations, while inbound international flights are being handled on a case-by-case basis.

The official advisory states:

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.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed the order on X, stating that the FAA issued the nationwide ground stop for all U.S. airports “following a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers.” He added that FAA technicians are investigating and that updates will be provided as they become available.

Nationwide ground stops are rare. The last full national stop of this type occurred in January 2023 after a failure of the FAA’s Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system. That outage lasted roughly 90 minutes and caused thousands of delays and cancellations.

As of early afternoon Pacific time, the situation remained fluid. Passengers with flights scheduled for the remainder of the day are advised to check their airline’s app or website for the latest status, as recovery times will depend on how quickly the underlying equipment issues are resolved.