Overview
- The FAA ordered a rare nationwide ground stop after communications between regional control centers failed at about 3:36 p.m. Eastern on Friday, Nov. 13, and controllers declared an ATC Zero condition that halted all departures.
- Officials say overloaded network switches and routers interacting with aged communications equipment during upgrade work produced inconsistent data that disrupted radio links and automated handoffs.
- U.S. airspace was reopened at 8:15 p.m. Eastern the same day but recovery has been slow, with thousands of cancellations and delays that left many passengers stranded and airports struggling to rebalance crews and gates.
- The FBI and DOT have opened technical and criminal inquiries and federal officials say there is no immediate evidence of a deliberate cyberattack while they probe contractor actions, equipment faults, or human error.
- The White House and Transportation Department raised a request to about $50 billion for modernization, and lawmakers face pressure to fund replacements of obsolete hardware such as legacy routers and floppy‑disk‑era systems to prevent repeats.