FAA's rare nationwide ground stop marks only 2nd time since 9/11. What does it mean?

Air travel FAA's rare nationwide ground stop marks only 2nd time since 9/11. What does it mean? According to the advisory from the FAA, all aircraft operators were told that airports were ground stopped and all departing traffic should remain grounded "until further notice." By Alex Dvorak • Published 19 minutes ago • Updated 14 minutes ago The ground stop issued Friday at airports across the country marked a "very, very rare" moment, but just how rare was it? It was only the second time such an alert has been issued in U.S. airspace since 9/11. Stream NBC 5 for free, 24/7, wherever you are. WATCH HERE The last such ground stop took place in 2023 , when the FAA suffered an outage of the system that sends messages to pilots. At that time, the stop was because of a key FAA computer system failure, which was the result of a corrupted system file. The FAA ultimately decided to reboot the system in an attempt to fix the issue and ordered a ground stop while it did so. Friday's ground stop was similar, with the FAA saying it followed "communication issues impacting multiple Air Route Traffic Control Centers." "FAA technicians are investigating the issue. We will provide updates," the FAA said in its statement. The agency called the circumstance surrounding the alert "extraordinary" and said it was issued for safety reasons. Local Air travel 1 hour ago Why FAA says it issued a ground stop for airports nationwide Federal Aviation Administration 1 hour ago More than 250 flights delayed at O'Hare, Midway amid nationwide FAA ground stop "We were wanting to assure all the American people this isn't a safety to the American people or another 9/11," U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin said Friday. "I think that's what a lot of people are trying to make the comparison to, and that's not the case." Mullin said there was "no indication as of yet that this was a nefarious attack against us." "It's just a telecommunication outage as of right now," Mullin said. "We don't want to get ahead of ourselves any time something like this happens." He said details were still emerging, but that the president had been briefed. Mullin said the immediate priority was ensuring that planes still in the air would be landing safely, but that there was no clear information on how long the stoppage might last. "Everybody's safe. There is no reason to be concerned about your loved ones if they're flying or anything like that," he said. Moments before the nationwide alert, both major airports in Chicago were listed under a ground stop due to an "equipment outage." It was not immediately clear if that outage was related to the ground stop. More than 200 flights were delayed at Chicago's airports Friday afternoon. As of 3:11 p.m., the Chicago Department of Aviation reported 213 delays at O'Hare International Airport and another 55 at Midway International Airport. Passengers on an American Airlines flight from Wichita to Chicago on Friday afternoon received text messages explaining the problem as “air traffic conditions in Chicago.” The plane sat on the runway for about an hour before the captain announced the air traffic problem seemed to be nationwide, and the plane would return to the gate. Passengers deboarded and the airline said no one would be rebooked for at least an hour. A source with knowledge of the situation told NBC News that Reagan National Airport was at capacity Friday afternoon and Chicago's O’Hare was nearing capacity, which could lead to flight diversions for travelers already in the air. Check back for more on this developing story. The Associated Press contributed this report. This article tagged under: Air travel