FAA Grounds All US Flights Until Further Notice
The Federal Aviation Administration has grounded all US flights Friday afternoon due to 'extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety,' according to the agency's statement.
No immediate reason was provided for the sudden grounding order. The FAA stated in a brief announcement that flights already in the air would be permitted to land, but no new aircraft are allowed to take off until further notice.
Communication Issue
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy addressed the situation in a post on X, formerly Twitter, confirming that the ground stop was related to a communication issue affecting Air Traffic Control Centers. He stated that agency technicians are actively investigating the problem.
The ground stop was related to a communication issue affecting Air Traffic Control Centers
Rare Nationwide Action
Nationwide ground stops are uncommon occurrences in US aviation history. The most recent comparable event occurred in January 2023 when a ground stop was issued following an outage to a critical system called NOTAM (Notice to Air Mission), which distributes real-time data and warnings to pilots.
The FAA has not provided additional details about the current situation and did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The agency's last nationwide halt of air traffic occurred on September 11, 2001.
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