ASN NEWS USA — NEWS FLASH

WASHINGTON (ASN NEWS USA)— One router. That is all it took to bring American air travel to its knees.

On Friday, November 13, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered a nationwide ground stop that held every departing flight in the country for roughly five hours — the longest nationwide ground stop since the September 11, 2001 attacks. Nearly 10,000 flights were canceled on Friday alone, more than 25,000 were delayed, and over 800 were diverted. The chaos spilled into Saturday, with more than 4,000 additional cancellations before noon.

A Routine Upgrade Gone Wrong

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Saturday the trouble started during routine maintenance by contractor L3Harris, which was switching an FAA telecommunications line from old copper wire to fiber at a remote site. A router involved in the work began flooding the air traffic control network with more than 1,000 connection attempts every few seconds, knocking out radio contact with pilots and disrupting radar feeds at as many as 17 of the nation’s 22 air traffic control centers.

Officials stressed there is no evidence of a cyberattack or anything “nefarious.” The FBI does not believe one was involved. The question now is whether the router was installed wrong or was simply defective — and Duffy made clear he is looking hard at L3Harris.

The Bigger Picture

Duffy used the moment to press Congress for $50 billion in emergency funding to modernize the nation’s aging air traffic control system, noting that about 30 percent of the old copper lines still have not been replaced. The FAA expects full recovery by Sunday evening, just as Thanksgiving travel begins to build.

For millions of travelers, the lesson is plain: the system that keeps America’s skies safe is running on wires older than most of the passengers it carries. Friday proved how fast that can fail.

Stay tuned to ASN News USA for updates on this developing story.

Reported by ASN News USA. Visit asnnewsusa.com or follow @ASNNewsUSA for updates.

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