FAA halts departures nationwide, citing “extraordinary circumstances”
Updated 3:15 p.m. Central, Nov. 13
The Federal Aviation Administration ordered a nationwide ground stop Friday afternoon. Every flight scheduled to leave a U.S. airport stays on the gate until further notice.
The order took effect at 2:53 p.m. Central. It cited only “extraordinary circumstances” and “reasons of safety.”
Flights already in the air may continue to their destinations. The FAA said inbound international flights will be handled case by case.
The agency has not publicly given a cause. The Washington Examiner reported that two FAA employees described a “rolling frequency outage,” meaning a loss of radio contact at facilities that track aircraft in flight. Earlier in the afternoon, Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway airports were placed under their own ground stops for equipment problems tied to controller radio frequencies.
A nationwide halt is rare. The last one came in January 2023, when a corrupted file took down the FAA’s Notice to Air Missions system for several hours.
For Wisconsin travelers, departures from Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay and every other commercial airport in the state are on hold. The same goes for Duluth, which serves much of the South Shore. Expect delays and cancellations into the weekend even after the stop is lifted. Travelers should check with their airline before heading to the airport.
This story will be updated.
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