On November 13, a nationwide grounding of flights in the United States was caused by a router issue that occurred during the replacement of copper cables with fiber optic cables, according to U.S. transportation authorities. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Brian Bedford held a press conference to explain the situation.
During the press conference, Secretary Duffy stated that the incident occurred while cables were being replaced at a facility located in a remote area. The work was being carried out by L3 Harris, a company that has been involved in FAA-related projects for decades. Duffy noted, "We are investigating whether this incident was due to our incompetence or if it was caused by a faulty router installation."
He emphasized that there was no foreign involvement in the incident. Bedford also concluded that it was not a cyber issue, nor was it related to artificial intelligence, as reported by the New York Times. Bedford projected that flight operations would return to normal levels by the evening of November 15.
According to NBC News, the grounding began around 3:36 PM when discrepancies were detected between radar data and aircraft communications. Errors occurred, including communication failures on specific frequency bands. Subsequently, at 3:54 PM, the FAA halted all flights across the country for safety reasons. Flights were allowed to resume at 8:15 PM, but departures occurred gradually, as reported by Reuters.
The nationwide flight grounding caused significant inconvenience for many travelers. The New York Times cited flight data provider Cirium, reporting that 8,200 flights were canceled across the U.S. on November 13. More than 3,000 additional flights were canceled on Saturday, November 14. The newspaper also reported scenes of weary travelers at Atlanta Airport lying down in the terminal to rest while waiting for their flights.
The incident also impacted college football, which is currently in season. A game between the University of Mississippi and the University of Oklahoma, scheduled for November 14, was postponed to November 15 due to delays in the Mississippi team's flight to Oklahoma. Additionally, a game between the University of Washington and Michigan State University was delayed by 45 minutes because Washington players arrived in Michigan early in the morning. They were originally scheduled to fly on the afternoon of November 13 but were delayed until 10:49 PM, arriving in Michigan at 2:30 AM the next day. They are set to play at 5:30 PM.
The nationwide flight grounding is the third such incident in the 21st century, following the September 11 attacks in 2001 and a safety alert system failure in January 2023, according to the New York Times. In September, a cable cut by construction workers at Philadelphia Airport caused a partial communication outage, leading to the cancellation of over 200 flights and disruptions at New York's Kennedy and LaGuardia airports, as reported by the Associated Press.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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