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TL;DR
The FAA ordered a nationwide ground stop on Nov. 13 after communications problems affected air traffic control facilities, holding departures for about four hours and 23 minutes. Officials said the issue appeared mechanical, reported no evidence of a cyberattack, and had not published a written root-cause report.
The Federal Aviation Administration halted departures at airports across the United States on Friday, Nov. 13, after communications problems affected multiple air traffic control facilities, disrupting flights nationwide for about four hours and 23 minutes. The FAA’s advisories place the stop from 3:53 p.m. to 8:16 p.m. Eastern Time; Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said airspace reopened at 8:15 p.m.
The FAA Command Center first flagged equipment problems affecting Chicago arrivals. At 3:21 p.m., it warned of delays and airborne holding at O’Hare of up to 30 minutes. At 3:28 p.m., it stopped departures to O’Hare from across the United States and several Canadian airports, citing equipment and communications issues. Chicago Midway followed at 3:31 p.m. The FAA issued the nationwide stop at 3:54 p.m., directing departing traffic to remain on the ground while inbound international flights were handled case by case.
Duffy said the problem began at 3:36 p.m. and involved instability in radar and communications at en route centers and approach control facilities nationwide. He described aging analog telecommunications switches and routers as overloaded with data, producing inconsistent information. He also said the system did not lose all radar or telecommunications. The FAA’s initial statement said communication issues had affected multiple Air Route Traffic Control Centers and that technicians were investigating; the agency labeled its account preliminary and subject to change.
Duffy said more than 3,500 aircraft were airborne when the stop began, falling to fewer than 400 by 8 p.m. Medevac flights, life-saving cargo flights and law enforcement aircraft were allowed to continue. The FAA gradually coordinated departures as facilities recovered, and its cancellation notice recorded the nationwide stop as lifted at 8:16 p.m. Local and airline-specific disruptions continued afterward as carriers worked through the effects.
FAA ground stop · Nov 13, 2026 · times ET (UTC−5)
Unreliable data, a full stop, a slow restart
What the FAA Command Center’s advisories and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy describe, step by step.
US airspace (schematic)
plane (schematic)airports
3,500+ planes in the airwhen the stop began, Duffy says Fewer than 400still airborne by 8 p.m. ET, Duffy says Restartground stop cancelled; flights resume slowly
What the FAA and Duffy said
- 3:21 p.m.Chicago O’Hare: arrival delays “due to equipment issues”FAA advisory 106
- 3:36 p.m.Radar and communications unstable at centers and TRACONs nationwideDuffy
- 3:54 p.m.“All airports are ground stopped”; departures heldFAA advisory 111
- 4:20 p.m.Airborne holding expected at “any and all airports”FAA advisory 116
- 8 p.m.Fewer than 400 planes still airborne, down from 3,500+Duffy
- 8:16 p.m.Nationwide ground stop cancelled; Duffy: airspace reopened at 8:15 p.m.FAA advisory 005
Sources: FAA Air Traffic Control System Command Center advisories 106, 111 and 116 (Nov 13) and 005 (Nov 14, 2026, UTC dates); Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy at the White House briefing, Nov 13 (transcript: Roll Call Factba.se) and on X (as quoted by Fox Business); BBC News, Nov 14. Durations: own calculation from advisory event times (2026: 20:53 to 01:16 UTC; 2023: 12:20 to 14:00 UTC). The radar picture is a schematic, not real traffic.
Graphic: Powered by Thorsten Meyer AI
How the Halt Reached Travelers
A nationwide departure restriction affects far more than aircraft waiting at airport gates. When flights cannot leave, arriving aircraft and crews may be out of position for later trips, while passengers can miss connections even after the initial order ends. The Command Center continued issuing airport- and airline-specific stops into the night, reflecting the operational work required to reset schedules after the system-wide restriction.
FlightAware counted 9,159 cancellations within, into or out of the United States on Friday, and 3,515 more by 7:58 a.m. ET Saturday. Those figures cover all cancellations in those periods, not just flights caused by the FAA stop, so they cannot be treated as the halt’s direct cancellation total. The episode also affected international travel: Eurocontrol suspended US-bound departures from member states from 22:00 UTC Friday to 05:00 UTC Saturday at the FAA’s request, according to Xinhua citing the agency’s notice. BBC News reported that Sydney Airport held US-bound flights and Air Canada cancelled flights between Canada and the United States.
For travelers, the practical effect can last beyond the official end time. A flight may remain delayed or cancelled after air traffic restrictions lift because the aircraft, crew or connecting passengers are not where the airline’s schedule expects them to be. The reports available here do not establish how many individual passengers were affected or how much of the day’s disruption was directly attributable to the ground stop.
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From Chicago Equipment Alerts to Nationwide Stop
The Command Center advisories show the problem widening over roughly half an hour. Earlier Friday notices cited weather and traffic conditions, including wind and low clouds. The first cited equipment at O’Hare at 3:21 p.m.; the subsequent departure restrictions at O’Hare and Midway made communications the stated concern. At 3:30 p.m., the FAA activated a diversion recovery tool for all airports. The national restriction followed at 3:54 p.m.
As the response continued, the Command Center warned at 4:20 p.m. that aircraft could be held in the air at any airport and extended flight-plan drop times for all en route centers to 240 minutes. That extension allowed filed plans to remain active longer while departures waited. At 5:46 p.m., the FAA said flights would be released through coordination as en route facilities recovered. By 7:37 p.m., some coastal facilities were releasing some international departures. The FAA’s 2023-commissioned review counted 21 en route centers, which primarily control aircraft between airports.
The scale of the response was unusual, but the source material does not establish the FAA advisory as the only comparable nationwide halt since Sept. 11, 2001. BBC News described it as the longest nationwide ground stop since the attacks. That comparison is attributed to the broadcaster rather than presented as an independently verified FAA finding.
“ALL AIRPORTS ARE GROUND STOPPED.”
— FAA Command Center advisory
The Cause Has Not Been Fully Established
Officials have not published a written root-cause report, and the FAA described its first statement as preliminary. Duffy attributed the instability to overloaded analog switches and routers, but the available material does not include a completed technical investigation explaining precisely how the failure began, which equipment was affected, or why it spread across facilities.
Mullin said officials had seen “zero evidence” of a cyberattack and that the event appeared mechanically driven, but he also said investigators would not rule out a cyberattack. Duffy and the maker of the FAA’s new SMART air traffic tool said that tool was not connected to the failed equipment. The source does not provide independent technical findings about either the cause or the system’s role beyond those statements.
The exact number of affected passengers, the total number of cancellations caused specifically by the ground stop, and the full cost to airlines and travelers have not been established in the supplied information. The daily cancellation totals include disruptions from other causes, so they do not answer those questions.
FAA Investigation and System Funding
The FAA’s technicians were investigating the communications problems, but no publication date for a final report was given. The next concrete step is a fuller account of the equipment failure, its scope and any repairs or safeguards adopted. Until the agency releases that information, the technical explanation remains based on officials’ descriptions rather than a published investigation.
Duffy has called for $50 billion for a new system and warned that similar incidents could occur without funding. That is his assessment and request, not confirmation that Congress has approved the money or that a replacement plan is in place. Travelers should check directly with airlines for individual flight status and rebooking information, since local and carrier-level disruptions continued after the national stop was cancelled.
Key Questions
How long did the nationwide FAA ground stop last?
The FAA advisories give an event time of 3:53 p.m. ET and a cancellation time of 8:16 p.m. ET on Nov. 13, 2026, or about four hours and 23 minutes. Duffy said airspace reopened at 8:15 p.m.
Why did the FAA halt departures?
The FAA cited communications issues affecting multiple air traffic control centers. Duffy said radar and communications became unstable and attributed the problem to aging analog switches and routers that were overloaded with data. A written root-cause report has not been published.
Was the disruption caused by a cyberattack or the SMART AI tool?
Mullin said officials had seen no evidence of a cyberattack, while cautioning that they would not rule one out. Duffy and the maker of the FAA’s SMART tool said it was not connected to the failed equipment. The investigation’s final findings are not available.
How many flights were cancelled because of the halt?
The supplied information does not give a total limited to cancellations caused by the ground stop. FlightAware counted 9,159 cancellations within, into or out of the United States on Friday and 3,515 more by 7:58 a.m. ET Saturday, but those counts include cancellations for other reasons.
Could a similar FAA halt happen again?
Duffy warned that more incidents could occur without investment in a new system and requested $50 billion. That is his warning and funding proposal; the material does not establish that Congress has approved the funding or that another halt is scheduled.
Source: ThorstenMeyerAI.com
