FAA Orders Nationwide Ground Stop in Special Report on Flight Safety Alert

Nationwide departure halt

The Federal Aviation Administration issued the nationwide ground stop on Friday, directing all departing flights to remain on the ground until further notice. Its alert cited safety and extraordinary circumstances but offered no additional details.

The FAA said inbound international flights would be managed individually. The notice did not specify how long the restriction would last.

Officials investigate cause

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said FAA technicians were investigating the issue and that updates would follow as they became available. Mullin said President Donald Trump had been briefed and officials were not ruling out any possible cause for the communications issue.

Mullin also said people already aboard flights had no reason for concern. The cause of the problem was not established in the report.

Chicago airports affected

Shortly before the nationwide alert, Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport and Midway International Airport appeared on a ground stop alert because of an equipment outage, NBC Chicago reported. Aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti described the outage as extraordinary and said he did not know what could cause it.

Passenger describes radio issue

Werne, 55, of Greenville, South Carolina, told NBC News that the pilot first announced a radio issue. Later, the pilot said there was something more serious happening. The report did not identify the source of the communications issue or explain whether it was connected to the equipment outage reported at the Chicago airports.