FAA Nationwide Ground Stop Halts US Flights, Cancellations Mount
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the federal agency that oversees US air travel, imposed a four-hour nationwide ground stop on Friday, November 13, a halt to flights that left thousands of passengers delayed or stranded. The disruption was the longest nationwide ground stop in 25 years, according to The Guardian.
More than 8,000 flight cancellations were recorded on Friday. By 11am Eastern time on Saturday, November 14, more than 4,000 flights within, into or out of the United States had been canceled.
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the problems began when a contractor doing routine maintenance at a remote FAA facility switched telecommunications lines, the cables that carry communications, from copper wire to fiber optic cable.
FAA head Bryan Bedford said there was no evidence of anything nefarious in the communications failure, and no evidence of anything related to artificial intelligence. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there was no indication so far that the failure was caused by a malicious attack.
On Saturday morning, Duffy said flights were slowly returning to normal. He warned passengers to expect continued delays and cancellations as airlines reschedule flights and move aircraft and crews back into position.
Bedford apologized to passengers and said he believed the worst of the disruption is behind them. He said airlines were expected to have their full schedules running again by the close of business on Sunday.
The effects reached college sports as well. Mississippi's college football game against Oklahoma was moved to Sunday, and a men's college basketball game between UNC Greensboro and Cornell, scheduled for Saturday, was postponed.
