FAA Nationwide Ground Stop –November 13, 2026
By Hotspotnews
On Friday, November 13, 2026, the Federal Aviation Administration issued a rare nationwide ground stop for all departing flights across the United States. The order went into effect around 3:54 p.m. ET, citing “extraordinary circumstances and reasons for safety.” All aircraft operators were instructed that departing traffic must remain on the ground until further notice. International flights were handled on a case-by-case basis.
The ground stop was triggered by a telecommunications outage affecting multiple Air Route Traffic Control Centers. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy explained that aging switches and routers on the legacy FAA Telecommunications Infrastructure (FTI) network became overloaded with data and began producing inconsistent radar and communications information. Controllers never completely lost radar coverage or radio contact with aircraft. The decision to halt departures was made out of an abundance of caution after instability was first detected around 3:36 p.m. ET. At the time of the order, more than 3,500 planes were already in the air; all were safely landed.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin stated there was zero evidence of a cyberattack, no unauthorized access footprints, and no claims of responsibility. Multiple agencies, including DHS, the NSA, and others, investigated and found nothing pointing to external interference or malicious activity. Officials described the incident as a mechanical/legacy technology failure rather than a security breach. The system is managed by contractor L3Harris.
The ground stop lasted roughly 4–5 hours and was lifted at 8:15 p.m. ET once systems were confirmed stable. It was the longest nationwide halt of this type since the aftermath of the September 11 attacks and the first since a shorter NOTAM system outage in January 2023.
Impact was significant. Tracking data showed more than 10,000 delays and over 4,000 cancellations on Friday alone, with additional cancellations carrying into Saturday. Hundreds of thousands of passengers were affected, leading to crowded terminals, long waits, and widespread schedule disruptions. Recovery was expected to be gradual, with residual delays and cancellations stretching into the weekend as airlines repositioned aircraft and crews.
Duffy used the incident to highlight the age of the nation’s air traffic control infrastructure and called for substantial funding to modernize it, describing the current network as outdated and in need of urgent upgrades.
No connection has been established to any foreign actor, cyberattack, or external event. Authorities have consistently attributed the outage to overloaded legacy equipment.
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