Breaking News · Nov 13, 2026FAA Grounds Every U.S. Departure After Communication Failure at All Air Traffic Control Centers

Breaking News · In Depth · November 13, 2026, 3:48 PM CST

Every departing flight in the United States was ordered to stay on the ground Friday afternoon.

The Federal Aviation Administration issued a nationwide ground stop, the first since January 2023, after what Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy called a communication problem hitting every regional air traffic control center in the country.^[1]

Planes already in the air were allowed to land. Planes at the gate were told to wait. No one has said when they can go.

Video: ABC News, November 13, 2026 — “Nationwide ground stop ordered at airports: FAA”. Watch the original for full context.

What the FAA actually ordered

The order went out to pilots and airlines through the FAA’s Air Traffic Control System Command Center. The Associated Press published its wording:^[1]

Attention all aircraft operators, by order of the Federal Aviation Command Center, All airports are ground stopped.^[1]

The advisory gave only one reason: “extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety.” It said departing traffic should stay grounded “until further notice” and that inbound international flights would be handled case by case.^[1]

What went wrong, as far as anyone has said

Duffy later posted on X that the stop followed “a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers.”^[2]

Those centers are the regional facilities that guide planes between airports, at cruising altitude, across the whole country.^[1] If controllers there cannot reliably talk to pilots, nothing new can safely take off.

“FAA technicians are investigating the issue,” Duffy wrote. “We will provide immediate updates as we have them.”^[2]

The trouble showed up in Chicago first. Before the national order, O’Hare and Midway were already under their own ground stops for an “equipment outage.”^[2]

One account points to where it may have started. A Yahoo News reporter waiting to leave Los Angeles on a United flight relayed her pilot’s words: “a communications outage that started in Kansas City Center” and then “spread nationwide.”^[4] The FAA has not confirmed that.

The numbers so far

By 3:39 p.m. Central, the FAA’s own live status feed listed Miami and Fort Lauderdale departures as delayed under the national ground stop, and O’Hare, Newark, Teterboro and Las Vegas under FAA equipment delays.^[6]

Boston Logan confirmed it was covered by the order. “Passengers should check with their airlines for the latest flight updates,” the airport said.^[1]

How rare this is

The whole country’s departures have only been halted twice before in recent memory: after the Sept. 11 attacks, and in January 2023.^[3]

That 2023 stop came when the FAA’s system for sending pilots safety notices, called NOTAM, failed. The FAA later blamed contract workers who accidentally deleted files while syncing a main database with its backup.^[7]

Friday’s problem sounds different. In 2023 it was a database. This time it is the voice and data link between controllers and pilots in the air.

What’s disputed or unconfirmed

• When it ends. The official word is “until further notice.”^[1] The pilot relayed by Yahoo said the stop would last “until 11 p.m. Eastern time.”^[4] The FAA has not announced a time.
• Whether it was a cyberattack. As of SecurityWeek’s 4:33 p.m. Eastern report, federal officials had not said what caused the outage or whether they are looking at a possible cyberattack.^[5] Nobody official has ruled one in or out.
• Where it began. The Kansas City Center account comes from one pilot, relayed by one reporter.^[4]

What you can do right now

• Check your airline’s app before you leave for the airport. Airlines, not airports, will rebook you.
• Watch the FAA’s live map at nasstatus.faa.gov. It shows every airport’s current delay or stop.^[6]
• If you are picking someone up, track the flight number. Flights already in the air are still landing.
• Keep receipts for food and hotels. A carrier’s own policy decides what it covers when the cause is air traffic control rather than the airline.

We will update this story as the FAA explains what failed and when flights resume.

References

1. FAA issues a nationwide ground stop for 'reasons of safety' (KCRA / Associated Press)
2. FAA issues nationwide ground stop 'due to extraordinary circumstances' and 'safety' (NBC Chicago)
3. FAA nationwide ground stop delays 200-plus flights at O'Hare, Midway airports (NBC Chicago)
4. FAA issues nationwide ground stop on all departing flights, citing 'communication issue' (Yahoo News)
5. FAA Ground Stop Issued Due to 'Extraordinary Circumstances' (SecurityWeek)
6. Airport Status Information (live NAS status feed) (Federal Aviation Administration)
7. FAA Attributes Ground-Stop Glitch To Contractor Error (Government Executive, January 2023)

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