FAA ground stop updates: What we know so far

On Friday afternoon, the FAA grounded all planes nationwide, an extraordinary step that brought air travel to a grinding halt. The aviation administration said it halted travel "due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety."U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy also confirmed the flight stoppage on X."The [FAA] issued a nationwide ground stop for all U.S. airports following a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers. FAA technicians are investigating the issue. We will provide immediate updates as we have them." The FAA rarely halts traffic coast to coast, leaving many travelers with questions about their flight status and the cause of the grounding. Here's what we know so far.Why did the FAA ground all flights on Friday, Nov. 13?The FAA's original explanation was that the ground stoppage was necessary "due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety." That was a vague and somewhat anxiety-inducing communication, as many Americans associate nationwide ground stoppages with the tragedy of Sept. 11, when flights were also stopped in dramatic fashion.However, the FAA soon clarified in a statement that the order was issued due to a telecommunications issue."There has been a temporary telecommunications outage — out of an abundance of caution, all flights have been halted. Every flight has been accounted for and international flights will be handled on a case by case basis." The best tech deal this week The Apple iPhone 18 Pro is free right now with T-Mobile Products available for purchase through affiliate links. If you buy something through links on our site, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission. Mashable Light Speed This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. How many flights have been impacted so far?According to the Misery Map, a visualization of cancellations and delays produced by the flight-tracking service FlightAware, there have been 2,438 delays so far.When was the last nationwide ground stoppage?The FAA has only grounded all planes nationwide on two prior occasions. It happened for the first time on 9/11, and then again on Jan. 11, 2023. In the latter incident, flights were grounded for just 90 minutes due to issues with the Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system. In 2024, the infamous CrowdStrike IT outage led major airlines to issue a global stoppage.Is the FAA nationwide ground stoppage the result of a cyberattack?As with yesterday's global Microsoft outage, online commentators quickly speculated that a cyberattack may have been the cause of the ground stoppage, but there is currently no reason to believe that is the case. The FAA has clearly stated that it's the result of "a temporary telecommunications outage."The FAA's IT infrastructure is notoriously out of date. Just last week, Mashable reported on the administration's plans to finally phase out floppy disks — two years from now.The FAA also recently announced it was expanding the use of an AI tool to help air traffic controllers manage traffic, according to Ars Technica. However, there is no evidence that the current stoppage and the AI rollout are related.We should also note that it's currently Friday the 13th.This is a developing story...Want more science and tech news delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for Mashable's Light Speed newsletter or get Mashable push alerts today.