FAA Orders Nationwide Ground Stop for Departing Flights

The Federal Aviation Administration issued a nationwide ground stop for all departing flights on Friday “due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety.” The extraordinary circumstances weren’t immediately explained, but CBS News that a communications system crashed, causing it to reboot.

CBS News reported around 6:45 p.m. ET that an update to the private communications network which connects the entire country’s air traffic control system was pushed out on Friday. The update crashed the entire system, which is reportedly operated by the tech company L3Harris.

Gizmodo has reached out to L3Harris for comment.

“FAA technicians are investigating the issue”

The ground stop was first issued at 3:54 p.m. ET, according to the Air Traffic Control System Command Center. The website where the FAA posts alerts appeared to be working only intermittently and it’s not clear when the ground stop will be lifted.

© FAA

A spokesperson for the FAA confirmed to Gizmodo that a nationwide ground stop had been issued, but didn’t provide any further information about what caused it.

“The FAA issued a nationwide ground stop for all U.S. airports following communication issues impacting multiple Air Route Traffic Control Centers. FAA technicians are investigating the issue. We will provide updates,” the spokesperson said.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy shared an identical statement on X.

The @FAAnews issued a nationwide ground stop for all U.S. airports following a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers. FAA technicians are investigating the issue. We will provide immediate updates as we have them.

— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) November 13, 2026

A spokesperson for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey told Gizmodo early Friday evening that the agency is referring all questions to the FAA, and that they did not know if planes were currently taking off at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

A Fox News reporter, Bill Melugin, tweeted at 7:00 p.m. ET that a colleague had learned all Delta flights out of La Guardia Airport tonight have been canceled.  Amtrak’s customer support feed on X was filled with posts of the rail service apologizing for high call volume and strain on their website, which certainly seems to indicate an avalanche of travelers looking for any other way home.

The Air Current, an aviation industry news site, reported that airlines have been instructing passengers to stay home “with little indication when the ground stop would be lifted and normal operations would resume.” The site noted that extensive disruption is “likely to continue” for a while due to the complexity of the nation’s air traffic routes, airports overflowing with planes, and laws that limit the number of consecutive hours that flight and cabin crews can spend working.

“Everybody is safe”

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin briefed reporters outside the White House, stating there’s “no indication this was a nefarious attack.” When a reporter asked for clarification, he said he didn’t want to get ahead of himself, but stressed “everyone is safe.” He suggested “that’s not known” when the issue of a cyberattack was raised.

Mullin, a former senator who often has difficultly forming coherent sentences, said, “This isn’t a safety to the American people [sic] or another 9/11.” His point seemed to be that Americans weren’t in imminent danger, even if the technical problems did wind up being caused by a cyberattack.

“Everybody is safe. The flights are accounted for. And there should be no fear to the public at all on this one,” said Mullin. He added that President Trump had been briefed.

Asked whether the ongoing rollout of the FAA’s new AI routing system, SMART, had anything to do with the ground stop, Mullin said: “We’re looking at that. That’s part of something that obviously, through CISA at DHS, we are taking a look… working with our counterparts throughout all agencies.”

Mullin chided a reporter for calling it AI instead of “SI,” the preferred term of Trump regime officials ever since the president decided to call it “super intelligence.”

National Weather Service not facing problems

The ground stop has caused people to be on heightened alert, especially given other recent tech failures. Microsoft experienced a major outage Thursday that poured into Friday.

Reuters reported that the National Weather Service was experiencing nationwide internet and ⁠communications problems on Friday. Some social media users also reported that NWS was suffering a radar outage, but none of that seemed to be true.

A spokesperson at the Baltimore/Washington forecast office of the National Weather Service told Gizmodo via phone that they weren’t encountering any problem with radar, and could see live updates from other field offices. Gizmodo called NWS back around an hour later, after CNN had also reported there was an outage. The spokesperson again confirmed their office was receiving radar updates and they hadn’t noticed any IT issues.

“I just saw it on national news and was like ‘where is this coming from?'” the spokesperson said after checking the news.

The rumor about an outage appeared to be based on an outdated page specific to Anchorage, Alaska. The Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine shows that the page has been active for years and isn’t related to a current radar outage. It’s unclear if the Reuters reporting relied on the old web notice or if the news outlet spoke to NWS directly.

The NWS stated radar and their website “is fully operational” on X just before 6:15 p.m. ET.

Where’s the president?

President Trump has posted to Truth Social twice since the national ground stop was issued, but neither post addressed the national air emergency. One of the posts was about working on tax incentives for Hollywood, and the other was about the Coast Guard rescuing people when ships collided in Louisiana today.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.