FAA halts all US departing flights over safety
Original: FAA issues national ground stop
Why This Matters
A nationwide ground stop ripples across the entire US aviation system instantly.
The FAA issued a nationwide ground stop at 3:54 PM ET on Nov. 13, 2026, halting all departing US flights 'due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety.' Over 4,000 inbound flights were airborne at the time.
The Federal Aviation Administration issued a nationwide ground stop Friday afternoon, ordering all departing flights to remain on the ground 'until further notice.' The alert, issued at 3:54 PM ET, cited 'extraordinary circumstances and reasons of safety' but provided no additional detail. When the order dropped, Flightradar24 counted 4,042 flights already airborne en route to US destinations. Inbound international flights, the FAA said, would be handled case by case.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin moved quickly to tamp down alarm, saying there was 'no indication as of yet' of anything 'nefarious' behind the halt. He attributed the shutdown to a telecommunications outage 'as of now.' Nationwide ground stops of this scale are extremely rare — the most prominent precedent being the post-9/11 halt in 2001.