FAA issues rare nationwide ground stop after radar and communications failure

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a rare nationwide ground stop on Friday, November 13, 2026, due to a critical communications and radar failure affecting air traffic control centers.

At 3:54 p.m. ET, the FAA ordered a complete ground stoppage across the U.S. after experiencing intermittent loss of radar and communications at 22 regional air traffic control centers. The instability had begun at 3:36 p.m. ET.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy stated that new upgrades overwhelmed aging air traffic control infrastructure and overloaded data routers. Officials described this as a preliminary assessment, with the investigation still open. The Department of Homeland Security said there was no evidence so far of a cyberattack, but officials had not ruled one out.

The ground stop lasted for more than four hours before being lifted at 8:15 p.m. ET.