A student pilot on his first solo cross-country flight was mid-air when air traffic control told him every plane in the country had been ordered to land.
The controller warned him: “There is a ground stop nationwide. I advise you land your aircraft. Where would you like to land?” The pilot, coming from Hicks Airfield in Fort Worth, Texas, replied: “I don’t know what to do.”
“Ma’am, I’m a student pilot. Honestly, this is my first time doing solo cross-country,” he said in the recording, which captured the exchange as the Federal Aviation Administration halted all U.S. Flights Friday evening. The controller remained calm and talked him through the emergency, advising him to return to Hicks and citing multiple traffic nearby, including “both helicopters.” When he asked if he was clear to land, she told him she could not give clearance to that airport.
He then asked: “There’s nothing wrong with the airport itself? It’s just like nationwide?”
“Affirmative, nothing wrong with Hicks Airport itself. You can change to advisory frequencies; just suggest you land the airplane,” she replied.
The FAA lifted the nationwide ground stop at around 8:29 p.m., roughly four hours after it began. When the outage hit, the agency said: “There has been a temporary telecommunications outage – out of an abundance of caution, all flights have been halted. Every flight has been accounted for, and international flights will be handled on a case-by-case basis.”
More than 3,500 airplanes were in the air when the order came down. Another pilot reportedly took a long pause when a controller told him: “Just a heads up. It is a National Ground stop for all aircraft. Update time unknown.” After the pause, he replied: “Good copy.”
Passengers already airborne also got word from their flight decks. A Delta pilot announced: “There is a ground stop throughout the US. They say it is due to frequency issues. So that’s all we have,” He added that the flight would land in Fort Lauderdale as scheduled, but that no flights could depart.
The shutdown marked only the second time since the September 11 attacks that all U.S. Flights were immediately grounded. Airlines canceled more than 1,000 flights and delayed nearly 10,000 more, though one tally put the disruption as high as 15,000 delayed and 5,000 cancelled. Departure boards at many airports showed flights operating normally even as travelers could not board.
At a White House press briefing, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin confirmed the cause and said introducing new technology into an aging air traffic control system had overwhelmed it. Officials said a complete overhaul would need $50 billion in funding. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said: “I think the question for the American people is, do you want your Congress to fund this?” He added: “President Trump has asked for the money.”
Preliminary reports suggest the outage was not caused by a cyberattack, though FBI personnel across the country are monitoring the situation. Officials did not address rumors further during their briefing.
