On a Friday afternoon in November, the nation's skies were abruptly emptied when the Federal Aviation Administration ordered every departing aircraft to remain on the ground, citing a breakdown in the communications that keep air traffic controllers in contact with the planes they guide. Officials insisted this was a failure of equipment and frequencies rather than an act of malice, though the cause had not yet been found, and the uncertainty itself weighed on travelers and officials alike. As thousands of journeys stalled and families were pressed into long waits and uncertain nights, the epi
FAA Orders Nationwide Ground Stop as Air Traffic Control Communications Failure Strands Travelers
Thousands of travelers faced delays and cancellations, including families stranded during trips and a family unable to reach a dying relative in New Zealand.
Every departing aircraft in the country was told to stay on the ground
Mark
Why does this one feel different from an ordinary delay?
Mimi
Because it was national. Every departure was held, and flights from 42 countries bound for the U.S. were paused too.
Mark
Officials said it wasn't an attack. Is that settled?
Luke
Not fully. Mullin said there was no prior indication as of yet, and that it was just an outage as of right now. That's careful wording, and the cause is still under investigation.
Mark
Jeffrey Price said everything's on the table.
Luke
Right, and he said he doesn't know why it failed. He's an outside consultant, not an investigator, so that's a list of possibilities rather than findings.
Mimi
The human side is stark. The Cowlings drove three hours to reach a dying brother in New Zealand and had to turn around.
Mark
What about the numbers?
Luke
Those are FlightAware figures as of 6:40 p.m. Eastern, over 10,000 delays and 3,000 cancellations. They were moving, so treat them as a snapshot.
Mimi
And recovery will outlast the stop itself, since crews and planes are out of position.
Mark
Is the Microsoft outage connected?
Luke
Microsoft says it has no indication of a link. Nobody has shown one.
Le Pouls
- The FAA's nationwide ground stop froze departures across the country just after 4 p.m. Eastern, leaving planes parked and passengers stranded without a firm timeline.
- Officials from the Transportation and Homeland Security departments moved quickly to rule out a cyberattack, describing a telecommunications outage while the cause remains under investigation.
- Cancellations climbed past 3,000 with more than 10,000 flights delayed, as airports from Chicago to Dallas to Boston struggled to rebook crowds in overwhelmed lines.
- Partial relief arrived as some transatlantic flights were allowed to depart, yet the stop's length still threatens to strand aircraft and crews for the weekend, with the FAA's root-cause findings and lifting order still pending.
On a Friday afternoon in November, the nation's skies were abruptly emptied when the Federal Aviation Administration ordered every departing aircraft to remain on the ground, citing a breakdown in the communications that keep air traffic controllers in contact with the planes they guide. Officials insisted this was a failure of equipment and frequencies rather than an act of malice, though the cause had not yet been found, and the uncertainty itself weighed on travelers and officials alike. As thousands of journeys stalled and families were pressed into long waits and uncertain nights, the episode became a reminder of how much ordinary life rests on systems most people never think about until they fall silent.
At about 4 p.m. Eastern on Friday, November 13, the Federal Aviation Administration told every departing aircraft in the United States to stay on the ground. The agency pointed to an air traffic control problem serious enough to warrant safety concerns, and though planes already in the air were not ordered down, the country's skies went quiet almost at once. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy traced the trouble to a communication failure affecting air route traffic control centers, and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin later described a telecommunications outage, urging Americans not to read it as an attack. For now, no sign of wrongdoing had surfaced.
The numbers grew hour by hour. By early evening, more than 10,000 flights were delayed and over 3,000 cancelled, with Chicago O'Hare, LaGuardia, Dallas-Fort Worth, JFK and Boston Logan hit hardest. Some transatlantic departures were eventually allowed to leave, but the wider disruption rippled outward through airports, rebooking lines and Amtrak's overloaded phone and app systems.
The human stories gathered in the terminals. In Boston, hundreds waited in a JetBlue line, and one traveler returning from Istanbul faced an unplanned night before heading home to Florida. In Detroit, a man hoping to see his 50th birthday game in Munich watched his chances thin, and an Ann Arbor family with two young children saw their long-planned trip to Istanbul delayed. The sharpest cost fell on the Cowling family, who had rushed to New Zealand to be with a dying brother, only to be turned back after a three-hour drive and told they could not leave until Sunday.
Even college football felt the grounding, as Texas and Tennessee were held back from their games and Alabama chose to bus to Nashville. Aviation experts called the event nearly unprecedented, and warned that the longer the stop lasts, the harder recovery will be, with aircraft and crews out of position. Travelers were advised to take the earliest available flight or a nonstop, while the country waits to learn when the stop will lift and what caused the failure.
At about 4 p.m. Eastern on Friday, Nov. 13, the Federal Aviation Administration told every departing aircraft in the country to stay on the ground. The agency cited extraordinary circumstances and safety concerns tied to an air traffic control problem. Flights already airborne were not ordered to land immediately, and international arrivals bound for the United States were to be handled case by case.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the order followed a communication issue affecting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers. In a post on X, he said FAA technicians were investigating and that updates would come as available. Flightradar24 reported the order followed an equipment outage, and the FAA's advisory also pointed to frequency issues across the National Airspace System.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, speaking to reporters outside the White House, described a telecommunication outage throughout the FAA. He said Americans should not read it as a safety threat or another 9/11, and that there was no prior indication, as of then, of a nefarious attack. A White House official said President Trump was receiving constant updates but had not commented publicly. Microsoft separately said it had no indication the ground stop was linked to its services, after a worldwide Microsoft outage that lasted more than 24 hours had stabilized earlier in the day.
The numbers climbed through the evening. By 6:40 p.m. Eastern, FlightAware showed more than 10,000 flights delayed and more than 3,000 cancelled, against about 1,000 cancellations Thursday and roughly 100 each on Tuesday and Wednesday. The airports with the most cancellations were Chicago O'Hare (173), LaGuardia (143), Dallas-Fort Worth (132), JFK (113) and Boston Logan (104). Eurocontrol said U.S.-bound departures from 42 countries, including the U.K., France, Germany, Italy and Spain, were suspended at the FAA's request for flights leaving between 5 p.m. Friday and midnight Eastern. Shortly before 6 p.m., Logan said the FAA was allowing some transatlantic flights to leave, and Flightradar24 showed planes bound for Paris, Frankfurt and Rome departing. Amtrak, meanwhile, apologized for website and app errors and long waits to reach agents as call volumes surged.
In airports, the mood varied. In Philadelphia, travelers were mostly calm; Mills Chapman, headed to Seattle on a 6:30 p.m. flight, came early anyway and said the situation could be worse. In Boston, hundreds waited in a JetBlue rebooking line. Irem Collins, who learned of the grounding while over the Atlantic returning from Istanbul, faced an unplanned night in Boston before going home to Florida. At Detroit Metro, Randall Woodard, 49, hoped to reach Munich for the Lions-Patriots game on Nov. 15, his 50th birthday. In Michigan, Mousavi Akter, 33, of Ann Arbor, was starting a four-week family trip to Istanbul, a year in the making, with an 8-year-old and a 3-year-old; their 8 p.m. flight was delayed at least two hours.
For Cliff Cowling, the cost was sharper. He had moved his trip up two days to spend more time in New Zealand with his dying brother, who is forgetting things, according to his wife, Monica. After a three-hour drive to the airport with Monica and their 10-year-old daughter, the family learned they could not leave until Sunday. They went home to Coldwater, Michigan, and plan to be back in Indianapolis Sunday to try again.
College football felt it too. Texas and Tennessee were grounded ahead of games against LSU and Texas A&M, while Alabama chose to bus to Nashville to play Vanderbilt.
Aviation security consultant Jeffrey Price called the event almost without precedent, noting only 9/11 and a roughly 12-hour outage in 2023 as comparable nationwide groundings. He said one of the FAA's communication systems clearly failed but that he does not know why; a cyberattack, an IT outage, or backup systems not working were all possible. Airline consultant Robert W. Mann Jr. said the longer the stop lasts, the longer recovery takes, with aircraft and crews out of position and some crews timed out. He said the day was effectively done and airlines should prepare for the weekend. Going's Derek Cann advised rebooking onto the earliest flight and nonstops.
What to watch now: when the ground stop is lifted, and whether the FAA's investigation produces a clear root cause.
Citations marquantes
There is no prior indication as of yet that this was a nefarious attack against us.— Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin
The longer the ground stop, the longer the recovery time.— Robert W. Mann Jr., airline consultant
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