The Federal Aviation Administration ordered a nationwide ground stop on Friday afternoon after air traffic controllers began losing the radio frequencies they use to communicate with pilots. Planes already in the air were cleared to continue to their destinations, but every aircraft still on the ground was ordered to stay there.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed the scope of the shutdown on his official X account, writing that the FAA “issued a nationwide ground stop for all U.S. airports following a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers.” He said FAA technicians were investigating and that updates would follow as they became available.
The breakdown was first described as a “rolling frequency outage” affecting Boston, New York and Chicago, three of the busiest hubs in the country. Problems reportedly began around 3:15 p.m. Eastern as controllers started losing contact with pilots over affected channels.
By 3:39 p.m. Eastern, the FAA had already imposed ground stops at Chicago O’Hare and Chicago Midway because of what officials called an “equipment outage,” holding inbound flights at their departure airports until at least 4:30 p.m. Eastern. Departures from Teterboro Airport in New Jersey were delayed by up to 45 minutes for the same reason.
An FAA source cited in reporting described a ground stop of this scale as “absolutely unheard of.”
As of this writing, the FAA had not issued an official statement on when the ground stop would be lifted. A stoppage of this size, triggered by equipment failure rather than weather, has the potential to disrupt air travel across the country for hours, with ripple effects likely to continue well after normal operations resume.
This is a developing story.
