FAA issues nationwide ground stop due to "extraordinary circumstances," White House says no indication of "nefarious act"

The Federal Aviation Administration on Friday issued a rare nationwide ground stop on all departing flights due to "extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety." The FAA and White House said the issue appeared to be caused by a "telecommunication outage."

"The @FAAnews issued a nationwide ground stop for all U.S. airports following a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers," U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said in a social media post. "FAA technicians are investigating the issue. We will provide immediate updates as we have them."

The Transportation Security Administration is still investigating the root cause, two law enforcement sources told CBS News. One source said the issue has to do with radio frequencies and how pilots talk to one another.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters in a briefing outside the White House that "there was no indication, as of yet, that this was a nefarious act against us. It was just a telecommunication outage, as of right now."

"There is no indication, we had no reason to believe, that as of right now, that this was a threat to the United States," Mullin said. "This was a telecommunication outage throughout FAA. Out of an abundance of caution, we have grounded all the flights. And all the flights are accounted for."

He said flights will be able to land safely. 

"We are assured that everybody is safe. Everybody that's going to be in the air, that's currently on the plane, the loved ones, as I said, we're going to get you on the ground and we're doing it in a safe manner," Mullin said.

He said federal agencies are all working together on the situation. 

"I don't want to say that this is a crisis, but it is because we're ... we had to do a nationwide ground stoppage," he said.

According to the flight tracking site FlightRadar24, there were about 3,100 airborne aircraft bound for U.S. airports when the ground stop began. Mullin said all airborne flights were being dealt with on a "case-by-case" basis. 

The ground stop was posted to the FAA's National Airspace System Status website. Delays were issued at major airports across the country in Boston, Atlanta, Miami, Pittsburgh, New York City, Los Angeles and Baltimore.

"This is absolutely unprecendented," said Robert Sumwalt, a former chair of the National Transportation Safety Board and a CBS News transportation safety expert. "I was an airline pilot for 24 years. I was in the air at on 9/11. That was the last major ground stop. There was one back in 2023 for just a few hours. This is absolutely unbelievable that this could happen in this day and age."  

Within a short time Friday, there were at least 8,000 delays and 400 cancellations listed, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware. 

"By order of the Federal Aviation Command Center all airports are ground stopped. All departing traffic should remain ground stopped until further notice. Inbound international flights will be managed on a case by case basis," the Air Traffic Control System Command Center said in its alert.

Shortly before the FAA ordered the nationwide ground stop, both major Chicago airports, O'Hare International and Midway International, were issued a ground stop because of an equipment outage. 

In January 2023, a nationwide ground stop was ordered for a few hours, and domestic flights were delayed nationwide due to an FAA system outage. The FAA said at the time that its flight personnel alert system went down overnight. 

This is a developing story. It will be updated.