The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued an emergency ground stop for all flights in the United States on Nov. 13 for “extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety.”
The alert, issued at 3:54 p.m. ET, applied to all aircraft operations at all airports until further notice, the alert said.
The order was issued following a communication problem “impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said.
“FAA technicians are investigating the issue,” Duffy said. “We will provide immediate updates as we have them.”
About 3,100 aircraft bound for U.S. airports were in the air when the nationwide ground stop was ordered, according to the live air traffic radar service Flight Radar 24.
Denver pilots were told the stop could be in effect until 10 p.m. local time, according to the Air Traffic Control app.
Rep. Jake Ellzey (R-Texas) said they were informed the ground stop was caused by equipment failure.
“Don’t listen to any other rumors,” Ellzey said in a video on X. “Aircraft that are currently airborne are going to be allowed to land, but this is an FAA ground stop for equipment failure. Don’t fear this is something else.”
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters at a press briefing the outages knocked out radio and some radar at air traffic control centers, starting in Chicago, New York, and Boston.
Officials are investigating what caused the outage, but there was no indication yet of a threat.
“We’re not ruling out anything at this point,” Mullin said. “The first thing is the safety of everybody that is flying. We are assured that everybody is safe. Everybody that’s in the air, we’re going to get you on the ground, and we’re going to do it in a safe manner.
“We want to assure the American people … this isn’t another 9/11,” Mullin said. “I think that’s what a lot of people are trying to make a comparison to, and that’s not the case.”
A Delta Air Lines and United Airlines plane are seen at Denver International Airport in Denver on Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)
Mullin denied any connection to Microsoft’s outage the day before that took Outlook and other programs offline for most of the day.
Other agencies assisting the FAA were the State Department and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
Some international flights were allowed to depart on a case-by-case basis after the ground stop was issued, Flightradar24 reported.
An airplane flies past the air traffic control tower at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix on Nov. 8, 2025 (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)
“There could be a specific vendor issues, but there are no nationwide NWS outages impacting radar data,” NWS Twin Cities stated on X.
Retired U.S. Gen. Mike Flynn, a former National Security advisor, said he was told the ground order would last until 11 p.m. ET. He had also received reports of military units being placed on alert, he said.
“This should all be taken very seriously,” Flynn said.
The Pentagon didn’t immediately respond to a request for information from The Epoch Times about its involvement in the ground stop.
Congressional Democrats were already calling for investigations into the situation.
“My office and I are closely monitoring the nationwide ground stop,” said New Jersey Democrat Rep. Herb Conaway. “The Trump Administration must answer for this disruption. The American people deserve a full explanation, and Congress must be immediately briefed on what went wrong and who is responsible.”
Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), a former Blackhawk pilot and Aviation Subcommittee ranking member, said she also planned to thoroughly investigate the incident, while Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) said she was “alarmed” by the news and was tracking it.
Nationwide ground stops are extremely rare in the United States. The last time the FAA issued one was Jan. 11, 2023. All domestic departures were halted for about 90 minutes after a contractor erased database files, crashing the Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) pilot safety system.
A Federal Aviation Administration logo is displayed in the tower at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, March 16, 2017. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
