The US Federal Aviation Administration on Friday issued an advisory that prevented the takeoff of flights in US airspace for around five hours, creating chaos for travelers and airports. The stop was finally lifted around 8:30 PM Eastern Time, but only after thousands of flights were canceled or delayed, leaving travelers stranded.
In a press conference Saturday, Transportation Secretary Duffy attributed the FAA ground stop to problems with copper wiring during an L3Harris network upgrade. Duffy said it has yet to be determined whether the issue was incompetence or a faulty router.
In a statement provided to on Saturday, a spokesperson for L3Harris said, “L3Harris has been modernizing the communications infrastructure supporting the National Airspace System in close coordination with the FAA. With safety and reliability as our highest priorities, L3Harris, together with its telco partners and the FAA, has completed more than 70 percent of the planned airspace communications conversion from legacy copper wires to a fiber optic system. We are supporting the FAA in its investigation to understand the conditions that led to the Nov. 13 ground stop of our nation’s air travel. L3Harris takes the nationwide ground stop and its impact on travelers, airlines and air traffic operations seriously.”
The stop was issued on Friday around the middle of the day ET.
"The FAA issued a nationwide ground stop for all U.S. airports following a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers," said US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy in a statement on Friday. "FAA technicians are investigating the issue. We will provide immediate updates as we have them."
A spokesperson at the FAA press office reached by phone at the time said he was unable to provide further information. And an email response from the agency repeated Duffy's statement.
The FAA ATCSCC advisory halted departing flights and said international flights would be dealt with individually.
The notice said, "Due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety. Attention all aircraft operators, by order of the Federal Aviation Command Center all airports are ground stopped. All departing traffic should remain stopped until further notice. Inbound international flights will be managed on a case by case basis."
Doug Yakel, public information officer for San Francisco International Airport, said, "FAA confirms nationwide ground stop, other reporting indicates a communications issue between Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ARTCCs). Aircraft already enroute to SFO still landing here but departing aircraft not taking off right now."
An update issued at 2:02 pm PT described the problem as "a temporary telecommunications outage."
The FAA Telecommunications Infrastructure (FTI) is managed by L3Harris. The network provides secure communication between more than 4,400 facilities. ®
with the administration's explanation for the stop.
to reflect the lifting of the ground stop.
CBS News reports that “an update to the private communications network that connects America’s air traffic control system caused the system to reboot. When the FAA’s telecommunication infrastructure rebooted, it crashed, causing the communications outage. The system is operated by L3Harris.”
Air Space Intelligence (ASI), awarded the FAA’s $875 million, 12-year contract for its new Strategic Management of Airspace, Routes and Trajectories (SMART) system, has issued a statement asserting that its products played no role in the FAA’s flight suspension. “The current ground stop is not based on or a result of the SMART system, any product of ASI or our integration with FAA and ATC,” the company said.