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TL;DR
The FAA ordered a nationwide ground stop on Nov. 13 after communications and equipment problems affected air traffic control facilities. The stop lasted about 4 hours and 23 minutes; officials said they had found no evidence of a cyberattack, but had not published a written root-cause report.
The Federal Aviation Administration ordered a nationwide ground stop on Friday, Nov. 13, holding most U.S. departures for about four hours and 23 minutes after communications and equipment problems affected air traffic control facilities. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said more than 3,500 aircraft were airborne when the stop began; medevac, life-saving cargo and law enforcement flights were permitted to continue.
The FAA’s Command Center issued its nationwide order at 3:54 p.m. Eastern Time, citing “extraordinary circumstances” and safety. Its advisories date the event from 3:53 p.m. to 8:16 p.m. Duffy said the airspace reopened at 8:15 p.m.; the FAA’s cancellation notice listed 8:16 p.m. as the end time. The differing times reflect the officials’ and advisories’ records of the reopening.
FAA advisories show the disruption developing around Chicago before it spread nationally. At 3:21 p.m., the agency cited equipment issues in warnings about delays and airborne holding at O’Hare. It restricted departures to O’Hare at 3:28 p.m. because of communications issues, followed by a stop affecting Chicago Midway. The national order then instructed departing aircraft to remain on the ground, while inbound international flights were to be handled case by case.
Duffy said the FAA experienced instability in radar and communications at en route centers and approach control facilities. He described older analog telecommunications switches and routers as overloaded with data, producing inconsistent information, but said the system did not lose all radar or communications. The FAA’s initial statement said technicians were investigating communication issues at multiple Air Route Traffic Control Centers and described its account as preliminary.
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
Why a Ground Stop Spreads
A nationwide halt interrupts more than flights waiting at departure gates. When aircraft and crews cannot move on schedule, airlines must reposition planes, manage crew duty limits and fit delayed departures into busy airport schedules. Even after the FAA lifts an order, those constraints can keep cancellations and delays going as carriers work through the backlog.
The disruption also reached international routes. According to Xinhua, citing a notice from Eurocontrol, the European air traffic management agency suspended US-bound departures from its member states at the FAA’s request between 10 p.m. UTC on Nov. 13 and 5 a.m. UTC on Nov. 14. BBC News reported that Sydney Airport held US-bound flights and Air Canada cancelled flights between Canada and the United States. The event shows how a problem in U.S. air traffic control can affect travelers and operations abroad.
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. The figures cover all cancellations on those days, not just those attributed to the ground stop, so they cannot be read as a direct count of cancellations caused by the FAA order.
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From Chicago Delays to a National Order
The FAA’s advisories trace the first equipment-related warnings to Chicago-area traffic. Earlier notices that afternoon cited weather and traffic volume, but the 3:21 p.m. O’Hare advisory named equipment issues. At 3:30 p.m., the Command Center activated a diversion recovery tool for all airports. Duffy put the start of the wider system problem at 3:36 p.m., before the nationwide stop was issued 18 minutes later.
The Command Center’s subsequent notices describe measures to keep flights coordinated as facilities recovered. At 4:21 p.m., it extended flight-plan drop times for all en route centers to 240 minutes, allowing filed plans to remain active longer while aircraft waited. At 5:46 p.m., the FAA said flights would be allowed to depart through coordination with the Command Center as facilities recovered. By 7:37 p.m., some coastal facilities had released some international departures.
En route centers manage aircraft traveling between airports; an FAA-commissioned review in 2023 counted 21 such centers. After the nationwide stop ended, the Command Center continued issuing localized restrictions while airlines worked through the disruption. Duffy said older technology was involved and called for $50 billion for a new system, but that figure is his proposed funding level, not an approved expenditure.
“ALL AIRPORTS ARE GROUND STOPPED.”
— FAA Command Center advisory
Root Cause Still Under Investigation
As of the source report dated Nov. 14, the FAA had not published a written root-cause report. The agency’s initial account was explicitly preliminary, and the precise equipment failure, its technical cause and the sequence by which communications became unstable remained unclear. Duffy’s explanation about overloaded analog switches and routers is an official account, but the available material does not include a final investigation finding.
Mullin said officials had seen no evidence of a cyberattack and that a mechanical problem appeared more likely, while cautioning that investigators would not rule out a cyber cause. Duffy and the maker of the FAA’s new SMART traffic tool said SMART was not connected to the failed equipment. The source material does not provide independent technical findings confirming the full cause or detailing how the failure affected individual facilities.
The reported cancellation totals also require care: they include flights cancelled for reasons beyond the ground stop. The number specifically caused by the FAA order, along with the total number of travelers affected, was not established in the material provided.
FAA Investigation and System Funding
The FAA said technicians were investigating, and its advisories showed facilities recovering in stages before the national order was cancelled. A written account of the technical cause and any corrective steps had not been published in the source material as of Nov. 14. Those findings will be needed to clarify whether the problem was isolated to particular equipment or points to a broader weakness.
Duffy’s call for $50 billion in replacement-system funding puts the reliability of air traffic control technology before Congress, but the source material does not indicate that lawmakers approved that amount or set a timetable for an upgrade. Travelers should check with airlines and airports for flight-specific changes, since local delays and cancellations continued after the nationwide stop ended.
Key Questions
When did the FAA ground stop begin and end?
The FAA Command Center issued the order at 3:54 p.m. ET on Nov. 13. FAA advisories list the event as ending at 8:16 p.m.; Duffy said the airspace reopened at 8:15 p.m.
What caused the nationwide flight halt?
Duffy attributed it to instability in radar and communications at air traffic control facilities, involving older telecommunications equipment. The FAA had not issued a final written root-cause report in the source material, so the explanation remained subject to investigation.
Was the ground stop caused by a cyberattack?
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said officials had found no evidence of a cyberattack and that the issue appeared mechanically driven. He also said investigators would not rule out that possibility.
Were all aircraft grounded?
Most departing traffic was held on the ground, but some flights were allowed to continue. Duffy said medevac, life-saving cargo and law enforcement flights were exempt, and the FAA later coordinated some international departures as facilities recovered.
How many cancellations did the disruption cause?
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 totals include cancellations for all reasons, not only the ground stop; the number directly caused by the FAA order was not specified.
Source: ThorstenMeyerAI.com
