All US flights grounded nationwide: FAA cites “extraordinary circumstances” and ”reasons of safety”

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has ordered a nationwide ground stop on all departing flights after a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers caused communication blackouts. After the FAA released a confusing alert just past 4 PM ET, US Secretary of the Department of Transportation Sean Duffy announced that the Nationwide ground stop had been caused by a ‘communication issue'. Secretary Duddy clarified that the issue was affecting every single ARTC center in the US.

Air Route Control Centers cannot communicate with pilots

There are 22 Air Route Control Centers across the US; they communicate with high-altitude pilots. During a flight, pilots communicate with different controllers, and Air Route Controllers communicate with pilots during the height of their journeys, before handing them off to a mid-altitude controller. The Centers being out means that pilots cannot communicate with Controllers at high altitude. Information can still be relayed through mid-controllers and pilots in order to schedule landings.

Nationwide ground stops are rare

Nationwide ground stops are extraordinarily rare; this is only the third ground stop of its kind in US history. The first Nationwide ground stop followed the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. After the Twin Towers were struck in New York City, all civilian air traffic across U.S. airspace was halted, and airborne planes were ordered to land at the nearest available airports. The second came in 2023 and was caused by the FAA's NOTAM (Notice to Air Missions) pilot-warning computer system failing. It appears that this latest Nationwide ground stop will also be the fault of the FAA, which operates what NBC claims is an antiquated and outdated system. Government officials have announced they don't believe the outage is an attack, but they have not ruled it out.

AI involved?

This mass shutdown of US airports comes after the US announced that it would be integrating Artificial Intelligence into its Air Traffic Control systems. The US was clear that the AI would not be used for communication and would instead be used only for suggesting new routes to Air Traffic controllers.

What's next

Right now, all inbound planes are being permitted to and at their intended destinations, but all flights continued to be grounded as of 5 PM ET. NBC has reported that some flights have been estimated to be delayed for seven hours as airports crowd with thousands of planes landing, and none taking off.

This story is currently developing.