FAA issues nationwide ground stop for second time since 9/11. What to know

(Gray News) - The recent nationwide ground stop was only the second in the U.S. since the Sept. 11 attacks The last one happened in 2023, when an outage disrupted the Federal Aviation Administration system that sends safety messages to pilots.

The Details

Friday’s ground stop followed “communication issues impacting multiple Air Route Traffic Control Centers.”

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there was no indication that a national security threat caused the outage, though he did not rule out any possible cause, including a cyberattack, CNN reported.

“There is no indication that we’ve had, no reason to believe, that as of right now this was a threat to the United States,” Mullin told reporters at the White House.

He later repeated that there was “no indication as of yet that this was a nefarious attack against us.”

Mullin said all flights were accounted for and that aircraft already in the air were being handled on a “case by case” basis.

Officials have not provided a timeline for resolving the ground stop, as flight cancellations continue to climb.

Copyright 2026 Gray Local Media, Inc. All rights reserved.