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The Federal Aviation Administration issued a nationwide ground stop on Friday, November 13, 2026, halting departures from all US airports after communication problems hit multiple Air Route Traffic Control Centers. Aircraft already in the air were allowed to land, and officials said the cause had not been determined.
Key facts
- The FAA cited "extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety" and said international flights would be handled case by case.
- By 6:16PM ET, FlightAware listed 10,494 US flights as delayed and 3,396 as canceled, according to The Verge.
- Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there was no indication yet of a nefarious attack, but did not rule out any cause.
- Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on X that FAA technicians were investigating.
- Only two earlier nationwide ground stops are on record: September 11, 2001, and January 11, 2023.
What happened
The Verge, citing Jon Ostrower of The Air Current, reports that the problems began at the Chicago control center, then spread to Boston, Washington, New York and Minneapolis. The outage reportedly disrupted both radar and radio frequencies. Wired also reported radio frequency outages at centers including Boston, Chicago and New York.
An FAA spokesperson told TechCrunch that the stop followed communication issues affecting multiple centers. The FAA website listed an "equipment outage" as the cause. Sources differ on scope: Duffy's post, as quoted by Ars Technica, referred to all Air Route Traffic Control Centers.
Mullin told reporters that pilots and controllers could communicate "at certain levels," but that systems were overwhelmed, according to TechRadar. TechRadar also quoted pilot Scott Manley, who speculated that the outage limits how en route centers hand off flights to one another. That is commentary, not a confirmed diagnosis.
Possible links ruled out, so far
Officials and companies pushed back on two possible connections. Mullin said he saw no reason to link the stop to the Microsoft Outlook outage the day before. On the AI-based SMART airspace system, which The Verge says was activated nationwide on November 10, Air Space Intelligence denied any connection. Wired likewise said there was no evidence of a link.
The sources differ on the timeline of that AI tool. TechRadar notes its rollout began in September, while The Verge dates the nationwide activation to November 10.
Why it matters
Wired quoted Susan Hotle of Virginia Tech, a former FAA employee, saying a single system failure can affect a wide region at once. Earlier on Friday, Duffy asked Congress to act on a $30.1 billion request to update air traffic control systems, Wired reported.
Recovery could be slow. Michael McCormick of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University told Wired that an outage lasting more than a couple of hours could take days to unwind, with aircraft and crews out of position. Ars Technica reported that airlines had already canceled later flights and American Airlines expected disruption for the rest of the day.
