A sudden outage of communications in the air traffic control system has caused chaos in American aviation, forcing the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to make an emergency decision to halt all aircraft departures from airports in the United States. The decision was made on Friday, November 13, after problems were reported at several regional air traffic control centers. In the official announcement, the FAA justified the measure with “extraordinary circumstances and safety reasons,” ordering all departing flights to remain on the ground until further notice.
According to the Associated Press (AP), the outage affected 22 regional air traffic control centers, which are responsible for directing aircraft as they travel from one airport to another.
What caused the paralysis of air traffic?
According to information released by the FAA, the immediate cause was a problem in the telecommunications communications used by air traffic control centers. An agency spokesman confirmed that the problems affected several airway control centers, while FAA technicians launched investigations to identify the fault and restore normal operation.
More specifically, two FAA sources, quoted by the Washington Examiner in a report published by PEOPLE magazine, spoke of a rolling frequency outage, which affected the structures responsible for monitoring aircraft in the air.
However, until the latest information, the technical cause that led to this interruption had not been made public. So, the problem in communications has been confirmed, but not the origin of the defect.
Was it a cyberattack? What does Markwayne Mullin say?
One of the main questions behind the unprecedented decision was whether the US had faced a cyberattack or a deliberate intrusion into its security systems. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin stated that up to that point there was no indication of a cyberattack or a deliberate action against American infrastructure.
He described the event as a telecommunications outage and stressed that authorities were working to find out what had happened.
Mullin also tried to reassure citizens, assuring them that the planes in the air had been identified and that there was no reason to panic.
He did not confirm any connection between the bug and the Microsoft outage the day before. Microsoft also said it had no evidence that the two incidents were related.
Why were all the planes grounded and what happened to those in the air?
The ban on all departures was a precautionary measure for safety. Regional air traffic control centers are responsible for monitoring and directing aircraft in flight, ensuring communication between pilots and controllers, as well as coordinating movements in airspace.
Under conditions where these systems were not functioning normally, allowing new aircraft to take off could create a risk for air traffic management.
For this reason, the FAA decided to halt departures, while planes already in the air were allowed to continue flying and land at their destinations. International flights arriving in the US would be handled on a case-by-case basis.
Over 9 flights affected, airports in chaos
The FAA's decision had immediate consequences at American airports, where thousands of passengers were left waiting for information about their flights.
According to Flightaware data, cited by the Los Angeles Times, as of 14:30 p.m. local time, over 9,900 delayed flights and about 900 canceled flights had been recorded across the country.
At Los Angeles International Airport, over 550 flights were delayed and 47 canceled in the same period.
Major airlines, including United Airlines and American Airlines, warned passengers about disruptions and changes to flight schedules.
A rare precedent in the history of American aviation
A national ban on all takeoffs is a measure that is used extremely rarely in the U.S. According to the Associated Press and Reuters, the last instance of this measure was in January 2023, when a glitch in the NOTAM system, used to distribute important safety notices to pilots, forced the FAA to temporarily suspend aircraft takeoffs.
Previously, a national ban was imposed after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
The latest incident has also brought the debate over modernizing the technological infrastructure of American aviation back into focus. Reuters recalls that Congress had approved $12.5 billion to modernize the FAA's communication systems, while the agency and the White House had requested additional funds to improve the infrastructure.
However, so far there is no confirmation that outdated infrastructure was the specific cause of the November 13th outage.
Investigations by US authorities are expected to determine whether it was a technical defect in telecommunications systems, a problem with communication equipment or a broader failure of air traffic control infrastructure.
