US Flights Grounded Nationwide After FAA System Failure

The United States grounded all departing flights on Friday after a communication failure hit air traffic control centres across the country. The Federal Aviation Administration, known as the FAA, lifted the nationwide ground stop after more than four hours, but the disruption continued into Saturday as airlines worked to get planes and crews back into place.

The FAA issued the ground stop at 3:54pm Eastern Time on Friday 13 November. It was lifted at 8:15pm the same day, after the agency said it had tested its systems and confirmed they were stable. More than 4,700 flights were cancelled on Friday and around 10,000 were delayed, according to figures cited by Reuters. About 1.5 million passengers were affected, the Associated Press reported.

What caused the ground stop

The trouble began at about 3:36pm Eastern Time, when air traffic control centres began to report problems with radar and communications. Transport Secretary Sean Duffy said the problem was caused by ageing switches and routers that became overloaded with data. The faulty equipment sent inconsistent information to controllers, and the FAA decided to shut the system down.

The communication issue affected all 22 Air Route Traffic Control Centers, the regional centres that guide aircraft through the skies. It also affected Terminal Radar Approach Control facilities, known as TRACONs, which manage planes near airports. More than 4,000 flights were already in the air and heading for US airports when the order was given, according to Flightradar24. Over 3,000 of them landed safely during the disruption.

Officials have not yet found the exact cause of the failure. Reuters reported, citing two airline officials, that the outage appeared to affect a telecommunications network overseen by L3Harris Technologies. The FAA said its technicians were still investigating the issue.

Flights resume, but disruption continues

The FAA said it had thoroughly tested its systems before allowing flights to resume. Even so, airlines warned that delays and cancellations would continue for days because aircraft and crew members were left in the wrong places. More than 2,500 flights were cancelled on Saturday, the Associated Press reported.

Delta Air Lines and American Airlines each reported more than 2,200 cancellations on Friday, while United Airlines recorded about 1,800, according to Flightradar24. Some passengers turned to trains instead. Amtrak’s booking system suffered outages and glitches as demand rose sharply after the ground stop.

No sign of a cyberattack

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there was no indication that the ground stop was caused by a threat to the United States. The FBI does not believe a cyberattack or criminal activity caused the failure, Bloomberg reported, citing an official familiar with the matter.

Air Space Intelligence, the company behind the FAA’s AI-powered air traffic management system, said its technology was not responsible for the ground stop. Microsoft also said its own separate outage, which hit Microsoft 365 services on Friday, was not linked to the aviation failure. The National Weather Service said it was also facing nationwide internet and communications issues on Friday.

Second ground stop since 9/11

Reuters described the halt as the second nationwide ground stop since the September 11, 2001 attacks. A similar nationwide pause was ordered in January 2023 after a computer failure hit the system that sends safety notices to pilots, known as NOTAM.

The incident has raised fresh questions about the age of America’s air traffic control system. Duffy blamed the failure on old equipment and said the system needs to be replaced. The FAA has been trying to modernise its technology for years, while dealing with equipment failures, communication problems and a shortage of controllers. You can read our earlier aviation story here: Florida Plane Crash: Learjet 60 Crashes, Killing All 9 on Board.

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Sources: Reuters, Al Jazeera, Associated Press, The Indian Express, Financial Express, NorthJersey.com, Bloomberg.