FAA Grounds All Planes Nationwide for Extraordinary Circumstances – Updates
Update: The radar is down in 7 cities, not nationwide. According to information obtained by Newsmax, affected locations include Chicago’s Midway International Airport and O’Hare International Airport, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and Washington Dulles International Airport in the nation’s capital region, Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, Richmond International Airport in Virginia, and multiple airports serving the New York metropolitan area.
While the radar frequency problem has so far been identified in a limited number of locations, federal officials reportedly determined that grounding flights nationwide was necessary to protect passengers and flight crews until the extent of the malfunction could be established.
The situation is particularly urgent for aircraft already airborne.
Axios reports that the FAA has issued a rare nationwide ground stop due to extraordinary circumstances. All airlines are grounded nationwide. The FAA will manage incoming flights on a case-by-case basis. There are no indications of anything nefarious, but they can’t rule out a cyberattack.
Radar is out nationwide. The ground stop will continue for at least another two hours.
Secretary Sean Duffy confirms the nationwide ground stop is due to “a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers.”
The FAA technicians are investigating the issue and will provide immediate updates as they have them. They don’t know the cause.
Other than 2023, a national ground stop last happened on 9/11! The problems reportedly started at centers covering Chicago, New York, and Boston before spreading
The last nationwide ground stop was in January 2023, when the NOTAM system crashed
🚨 JUST NOW: Plane passengers are being informed they will be in the air for likely ANOTHER TWO HOURS, Sec. Sean Duffy confirms nationwide ground stop is due to “a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers”
“FAA technicians are investigating the issue. We will provide immediate updates as we have them.”
Other than 2023, a national ground stop last happened on 9/11!
The problems reportedly started at centers covering Chicago, New York, and Boston before spreading
The last nationwide ground stop was in January 2023, when the NOTAM system crashed
Keep replacing this outdated system!
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) November 13, 2026
Secretary Markwayne Mullin is not connecting the nationwide grounding to the Microsoft outage, but he isn’t ruling out a cyberattack.
🚨 JUST IN: Markwayne Mullin says the nationwide ground stop was caused by a TELECOMMUNICATIONS OUTAGE across the FAA.
He says ALL FLIGHTS ARE ACCOUNTED FOR. Planes still in the air and international arrivals will be brought in on a priority list.
“There is no reason to be concerned about your loved ones if they are flying,” Mullin said.
He also says there’s NO INDICATION YET that this was a nefarious attack, though investigators are keeping a cyberattack on the table until they find the root cause.
What about Microsoft? Mullin says the two outages are separate issues.
Good news. Now get everyone home safe.
— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) November 13, 2026
Image: Pexels
