AI summary
Summary of article:
The US FAA ordered flights across the country to be grounded for more than four hours due to a disruption in air traffic control communications, causing thousands of flights to be delayed and cancelled. Officials said there has been no sign of malicious attacks so far and it is suspected to be related to old systems or equipment failures.
At approximately 4 p.m. Eastern time on the 13th, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered a halt to flights nationwide due to “extraordinary circumstances” and safety considerations, while international flights were scheduled on a case-by-case basis. The ban lasted for more than four hours and was lifted after 8:00 pm ET, but it affected thousands of flights and disrupted passenger schedules.
There are only two precedents in the modern history of the United States for a complete shutdown of flights across an entire country. One was when the September 11 terrorist attacks occurred in 2001, and the other was the “Notification of Air Missions” (NOTAM) incident in January 2023.
US Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullinwhite House He told reporters, “There was no indication beforehand and there is still no indication that this was a malicious attack against us. At present, it appears that it was a telecommunications disruption.” When asked whether it could be a cyber attack, he said that officials have not ruled out any possibility.
“There is no reason for people to be afraid or concerned about their safety or the safety of their loved ones,” Mullin said. He stressed that this was not “another 9/11.”
Posted earlier by Transport Secretary Sean Duffy
In its initial statement, the FAA did not provide a specific reason for the complete grounding of all flights. An FAA spokesperson said the Air Route Traffic Control Center, which is responsible for dispatching flights across the country, experienced a communications failure.
An unnamed official later told USA TODAY that the air traffic control system was old and broken.
CNN reported that an aviation industry source familiar with the situation for air traffic control personnel said the failure caused air traffic control radar and radio communications to be disrupted at the same time. Air traffic control personnel still do not know the cause and actual situation. Another airline source told CNN that the FAA “still doesn’t know exactly what happened, and the impact varies from facility to facility.”
The airline source said: “Ten minutes ago, they were making a distress response call and they still couldn’t clearly identify the cause.”
The Wall Street Journal reported that the order to suspend flights across the United States took effect at 3:53 pm Eastern time on the 13th. The FAA issued an alert on the flight status webpage that day: “Based on special circumstances and safety considerations, all aircraft operators are notified that all airports have suspended flight departures in accordance with FAA Command Center orders.”
According to flight tracking website FlightAware, as of 5 p.m. Eastern time on the 13th, more than 440 flights in the United States were canceled and 9,000 flights were delayed. Passengers said on social media that some taxiing planes were asked to return to the gate, passengers were disembarked and crew members informed them that delays could last several hours. Other passengers said they were stuck on the plane because there was a rush of passengers at the boarding gate.
