Live updates: FAA issues sudden and stunning ground stop for all flights

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there was “no indication ” that anything “nefarious” was behind the ground stop, but blamed a telecommunications outage.

The last time the Federal Aviation Administration ordered a nationwide ground stop was in January 2023, after files in a system critical for pilots were accidentally deleted.

The error prompted a computer outage that lasted approximately an hour and a half, Department of Transportation officials said at the time.

The system that was damaged was NOTAM, or Notice to Air Missions system, which alerts pilots to potential dangers.

There was no evidence of a cyberattack, the Federal Aviation Administration said at the time. Instead, the department blamed contract personnel for the outage, saying they accidentally deleted files while working to correct the synchronization between databases.

The FAA said it made the necessary repairs to the system and had taken steps to make it more resilient.

President Donald Trump is getting constant updates on the situation with the nationwide ground stop, according to a senior White House official.

The FAA ordered the ground stop this afternoon, and it will run through at least 11 tonight.

Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin said there was no indication yet…

Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/business