FAA Ground Stop Traced to Copper Wire Upgrade, Duffy Says
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the four-hour nationwide ground stop on Friday followed a copper-to-fibre upgrade by contractor L3Harris. He warned it could happen again without congressional funding. Flight trackers counted thousands of cancellations, and the FAA expects schedules to normalize by end of Sunday.
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on Saturday, November 14, that the nationwide flight ground stop on Friday followed a technical problem during a copper wire upgrade, and he issued a nationwide warning that it could recur without new funding.
Air traffic controllers suspended take-offs for four hours from 15:54 EST on Friday. It was the longest such stoppage since the September 11, 2001 attacks.
What Duffy said caused it
Duffy told a news conference that contractor L3Harris was switching the air traffic control network from copper wire to fibre-optic cable. A router being worked on began flooding other systems with data and disrupted communications with aircraft, he said. Controllers halted departures on safety grounds.
Officials are still trying to establish whether the wire replacement or faulty equipment was the root cause. Duffy said the government was examining whether "incompetence" by the upgrade company was involved. Officials had earlier blamed outdated equipment.
Duffy said the US had "an incredibly old telecommunications system". He said the wire was so old it was being discontinued.
No sign of attack
Federal Aviation Administration head Bryan Bedford said: "We see zero evidence of anything nefarious and zero evidence of anything AI related." Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said investigators had not ruled anything out, but that it "appears this was mechanically driven".
L3Harris said it had completed more than 70% of the modernization work before the shutdown. The company said it was supporting the FAA investigation.
Scale of the disruption
Flight tracking data showed more than 15,000 US flights delayed or cancelled on Friday, affecting an estimated 1.5 million passengers. On Saturday, more than 5,900 flights were cancelled and 7,000 delayed. Some passengers sat on the tarmac, unable to take off or return to gates.
Flights out of the UK and Europe were also cancelled. NBA, NHL and college football teams were stranded, and Air Canada warned of disruption on Saturday.
The FAA said the US flight schedule should return to normal by the end of Sunday. Duffy said he expected operations to be normal for the Thanksgiving rush, which begins in less than two weeks.
Funding fight
Duffy warned a similar failure could arise again unless Congress approves upgrades. President Donald Trump has requested $30.1 billion, and Duffy has previously said the system needs a $50 billion overhaul. Both chambers of Congress are controlled by the Republican Party.
Former TSA Administrator John Pistole said restarting within four and a half hours showed resilience. "What's to say it's not going to happen tomorrow?" he asked.
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