FAA Halts Flights Nationwide After Air Traffic Control Telecom Outage; DHS Rules Out Attack

On Friday, Nov. 13, at Palm Springs International Airport, Bob Myers was about three minutes from boarding a flight to Portland, Oregon, when he learned it was not going anywhere. The Federal Aviation Administration had ordered a nationwide ground stop, telling every departing aircraft in the country to stay put until further notice. Myers rented a car for what he expected to be a 20-hour drive home. "I have no idea when this is going to be resolved," he said.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the order followed a communication problem affecting all of the FAA's Air Route Traffic Control Centers. FAA technicians were investigating, he wrote on X, and updates would follow. The agency's advisory cited extraordinary circumstances, safety concerns and frequency issues across the National Airspace System. Flightradar24 reported the order came after an equipment outage. Planes already in the air were not told to land immediately, and international flights bound for the United States would be handled case by case.

Just after 5 p.m. Eastern, the FAA posted that all flights had been halted out of an abundance of caution during a temporary telecommunications outage. "Every flight has been accounted for," it said.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin spoke to reporters outside the White House and tried to head off comparisons to Sept. 11. He said a "telecommunication outage throughout FAA" had prompted the stoppage, that there was no prior indication of a nefarious attack, and that the grounding was a precaution. He said DHS had been fielding calls asking whether this was terrorism, and told people there was no reason to worry about relatives who were flying. He also said there would be a priority list for accounting for planes as they began arriving at airports.

Mullin did not close every door. Asked about a cyber attack or artificial intelligence intrusion, he said, "We're not ruling anything out at this point." He saw no reason to link the outage to recent nationwide problems with Microsoft Outlook, calling them separate issues. His stated priority was restoring communications and returning to normal operations, then finding the root cause.

The anxiety was real outside government too. Colin P. Clarke, director of research at the Soufan Group, a global intelligence consultancy, said four or five people had texted him asking if this was the Iranians. He had seen no evidence of cyber terrorism as of Friday afternoon. But with the U.S. at war with a country like Iran, which has a growing reputation for effective cyber attacks, the nation is on high alert, he said, and that is part of the psychological impact.

Speculation also reached SMART, an airspace planning system whose national expansion the FAA announced three days earlier. SMART launched in the Washington, DC area on Sept. 21 and combines 200 data streams, including weather, flight paths and controller staffing, to anticipate congestion. It does not control aircraft or replace controllers. Its maker, Air Space Intelligence, said the ground stop was not based on or a result of SMART or any of its products. Officials have identified no connection.

On the ground, travelers improvised. Paul Tompkins, in Indian Wells to watch the WTA Finals, was already facing a four-hour delay that would have cost him a connection in San Francisco. He planned to take an Uber to Los Angeles, stay with relatives and fly to Vancouver on Saturday morning. In Nashville, Alex Babak, with five kids and a wife waiting in Seattle, weighed renting a car but said he trusted the technology to get him home safely. Elizabeth Johnson, bound for Detroit via Denver, expected to miss her sister's bridal shower. "It's Friday the 13th," she said. "I'd rather be safe."

Travelers whose flights are canceled are entitled to a refund or free rebooking. No other compensation is required for ground stop cancellations or delays, since they are outside the airline's control. Airlines for America said it was in close communication with the FAA and Department of Transportation.

Political reaction came quickly. The Senate Commerce Committee, led by Republican Ted Cruz, said the incident showed the need to prioritize modernizing the control centers, noting no new one has been built since LBJ was in office. Democrats Tammy Duckworth and Maria Cantwell called for scrutiny. Cantwell said the committee would review how planes communicate through primary and backup frequencies. After the January 2023 nationwide ground stop, which came from a deleted file that spread to a backup database, the FAA added a delay between database updates. This outage's cause remains unannounced.