The Federal Aviation Administration grounded all flights nationwide Friday afternoon for just the second time since the Sept. 11 attacks, with officials citing “extraordinary circumstances” caused by communications problems at regional air traffic control centers.
The nation’s top homeland security official attributed the problem to a telecommunications outage and said there was no indication yet of a nefarious act. But the consequences were profound, disrupting potentially thousands of planned flights through at least late Friday night and upending travel plans for passengers who were heading home, expected as wedding guests or had other weekend plans.
“It’s frustrating. This certainly sounds like it’s going to be more than the usual run of the mill delay. I look forward to finding out why,” said Jeff Dubner, a Washington, D.C., attorney, whose Alaska Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., was already half an hour late and taxiing to the runway when the plane came to a halt.
The nationwide ground stop was the first since January 2023, when a key FAA computer system malfunctioned, and the second since the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Friday’s restrictions were imposed “due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety,” according to an FAA notice.
