Is it true that on November 13 the US stopped all flights from taking off nationwide?

Is it true that on November 13 the US stopped all flights from taking off nationwide?

Checked · updated · watching until

Hot topic: the date in the rumor is still ahead Rumor deadline: 2026.11.13

Translated from Russian. Original

Rumor: On the evening of November 13, 2026, posts on Telegram and social media claim that the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has stopped all flights from taking off nationwide, the reasons are unknown, and the presumed cause is a "radio frequency failure".

01 Verdict

True

True. On November 13 at about 20:54 UTC (23:54 Moscow time) the FAA banned takeoffs at all US airports "due to extraordinary circumstances and for safety reasons"; planes already in the air landed as usual. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy blamed a communications problem at the air traffic control centers and said it was preliminarily not a cyberattack. This is the second nationwide stop of departures since September 11, 2001; the first was in January 2023. The "radio frequency failure" is an unofficial version. At about 22:00 UTC the FAA explained the stop itself for the first time: a "temporary telecommunications failure", with all flights accounted for. By then the FAA status page no longer showed a blanket ban, but its lifting has not been officially announced; departure delays are growing and reach 1 h 45 min.

Very high: the stop is confirmed by the US Transportation Secretary himself and the FAA status page, which we opened ourselves, as well as by CNN, Reuters and ABC. Only the radio frequency version is unconfirmed.

02 Updates

  • . 22:00 UTC: the official FAA status page no longer shows a nationwide stop. It lists departure delays by airport: Chicago O'Hare, 90 minutes on average; Newark, 75; Atlanta, 45 ("due to the nationwide stop"); Houston and Fort Lauderdale, 60. There is no official FAA statement yet on lifting the ban or on the cause of the failure. We are still watching.[1]
  • . 22:05 UTC: the FAA spoke for itself for the first time, on X: there was a "temporary telecommunications failure", departures were halted "out of an abundance of caution", every flight is accounted for, and international flights are handled case by case. The FAA status page shows no blanket stop, but delays are growing: Atlanta ("due to the nationwide stop") and New York's JFK ("FAA equipment"), from 1 h 31 min to 1 h 45 min. According to FlightAware (via Fox Weather), more than 7,800 flights had been delayed or cancelled by 21:45 UTC. There is still no official announcement that the ban has been lifted.[3][1][18]
  • . 22:30 UTC: US Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, according to NBC News, said there is "no indication as of yet" of anything nefarious and that, as of now, it is a telecommunications outage; he is not ruling anything out. No new posts from the FAA or the Transportation Secretary, and no official announcement that the ban has been lifted. The FAA status page shows no nationwide stop, but equipment-related delays are growing: Newark and Houston up to 2 hours, Teterboro (New Jersey) up to 2 h 15 min; delays at JFK have started to shrink.[24][1]
  • . 23:00 UTC: officially the ban has still not been lifted, and there are no new statements from the FAA or the Transportation Secretary. But on the FAA status page equipment-related delays remain only at Newark (2 h 16 min – 2 h 30 min and growing); they are gone at Atlanta, Houston, JFK and Teterboro. CBS News, citing FlightAware, counted at least 8,000 delays and 400 cancellations. Two CBS law-enforcement sources say the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is also looking for the root cause; one of them linked the failure to the radio frequencies pilots use to talk to controllers — this is not officially confirmed.[1][25]
  • . 23:10 UTC: according to the FAA (as reported by ABC News Australia), the ban formally remains in effect, but departures are gradually resuming as air route traffic control centers recover. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin: "This is a telecommunications outage," and as for the Microsoft outage of 12–13 November, "I don't see any reason to connect those two at all… Those are separate issues"; he does not rule out a cyberattack, and asked about the FAA's new AI-based traffic planning tool, he said: "We're looking at that." Verizon, which holds an FAA contract to upgrade its communications, said its network is "fully functioning" and it is not aware of any issue with air traffic control systems. Almost simultaneously with the FAA, the US National Weather Service reported nationwide internet and communications problems (Reuters); no official link between the two outages has been established.[26][28][27][29]
  • . 00:00 UTC: the FAA has not yet officially announced that the stop is lifted. But on the FAA status page, a departure stop due to equipment failure remains only in Houston (delays of 2 h 30 min – 2 h 44 min and decreasing); it is gone in Newark, and the remaining delays are due to wind and traffic volume. According to Bloomberg, citing a source, the FBI is examining whether a software update caused the outage and does not consider it a cyberattack. The National Weather Service clarified that its radars are working and the communication problems were regional.[1][30][31]
  • . 00:30 UTC: the FAA status page no longer shows any departure stop due to equipment failure — the last one, in Houston, is gone too. Only routine delays due to wind and traffic volume remain (San Francisco, New York, Boston, San Diego). There is still no official statement on lifting the stop or on the cause of the outage.[1]
  • . 01:00 UTC: the nationwide stop is still having an effect. The FAA status page now shows departure delays from Atlanta, the busiest US airport, with the reason “national stop”: 3 h 1 min – 3 h 15 min, and increasing. The FAA has still not officially announced that the stop is lifted; its latest statement said departures are allowed as air traffic control centers recover.[1][26]

03 Signs of manipulation

The tricks this rumor uses to influence you, and how not to fall for them.

Pressure on the reader:low
  • Journalists' version presented as the causeTruth mixed with fiction
    "The presumed cause is a radio frequency failure in the National Airspace System" (Telegram channels)

    How it works: An unofficial version is remembered as an established fact.

    How to resist: Tell the official explanation from the FAA and the Secretary ("a communications problem") apart from what anonymous employees say.

  • Reference to the 9/11 attacksPlaying on emotions
    "since the September 11, 2001 attacks" (Telegram channels)

    How it works: Linking it to a terrorist attack pushes people to think of an assault, though preliminarily it is a technical failure.

    How to resist: Wait for the official cause; according to CNN's preliminary information, there is no cyberattack.

04 Claims and facts

  • «The FAA suspended takeoffs of all aircraft across the country»True

    True. In a notice to airlines and controllers, the FAA said all airports were stopped "due to extraordinary circumstances and for safety reasons", with departures halted "until further notice". Planes already in the air kept flying and landed; international flights into the US were handled case by case. This is confirmed by the Transportation Secretary, CNN, Reuters, ABC and CNBC. The FAA told crews in the air to prepare for holding over airports nationwide because of an equipment outage; according to Flightradar24, about 3,100 planes were flying over the US at that moment.[2][4][5][6][7][19]

  • «The reasons for the decision are not yet known»True

    True at the time of the post. Later, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy wrote that the stop was ordered after a communications problem affecting all air traffic control centers (the ones that guide planes between cities), and that FAA technicians were looking for the cause. The FAA itself, in a statement to CNBC, speaks of "several" centers. At about 22:00 UTC the FAA called it a "temporary telecommunications failure" on X. What exactly broke has not been named officially.[2][7][4][3]

  • «This happens extremely rarely»True

    True. ABC, Reuters and Flying magazine call it the second nationwide stop of departures since the September 11, 2001 attacks. The first was on January 11, 2023, when the pilot alert system (NOTAM) broke down, and it lasted under two hours.[6][5][9]

  • «The presumed cause is a radio frequency failure in the US National Airspace System»Unverifiable

    Not officially confirmed, but not made up either. The Washington Examiner, citing FAA employees, wrote about a "sequential failure of frequencies" at several centers; an internal Alaska Airlines message seen by CNBC mentions communications and radar problems. The FAA and the Secretary speak only of a "communications problem". According to preliminary information from two law enforcement officials (CNN), it was not a cyberattack. CBS News, citing a law-enforcement source, also links the failure to the radio frequencies pilots use to communicate.[8][7][4][2][25]

05 Where the rumor came from

  • The previous nationwide stop: a failure of the NOTAM pilot alert system. Departures were halted early in the morning and the ban was lifted in under two hours; over the day there were more than 10,000 delays and more than 1,300 cancellations.[16][11]

  • FAA

    At about 3:10 p.m. New York time (20:10 UTC), departures at Chicago's O'Hare and Midway airports are halted because of an equipment failure.[12][6]

  • FAA

    At about 3:54 p.m. New York time (20:54 UTC), the FAA announces a stop at all airports in the country "until further notice".[13][11][4]

  • X · @SecDuffy · en

    Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy: the stop was ordered after a communications problem at all air traffic control centers, and FAA technicians are working on it. More than 1.6 million views.[2]

  • CNN

    CNN, citing two law enforcement officials: according to preliminary information, this is not a cyberattack.[4]

  • FAA

    By 22:00 UTC the FAA status page shows no blanket stop; airports are operating with departure delays of 15 to 90 minutes.[1]

  • X · @FAANews · en

    At about 22:00 UTC, the FAA's first statement of its own: a "temporary telecommunications failure", all flights accounted for, international ones handled case by case.[3]

  • NWS

    The National Weather Service reports nationwide internet and communications problems: websites may be unavailable or show outdated data. Local offices keep issuing weather warnings.[27]

How the text changed

  1. FAA: "due to extraordinary circumstances and for safety reasons", departures halted until further notice, with no cause given.
  2. Journalists and posts on X: a "sequential frequency failure" according to FAA employees.
  3. Russian-language aggregators (via Clash Report) and Telegram: the "radio frequency failure" is presented as the presumed cause.
  4. Some accounts and the Greek newspaper National Herald wrote within half an hour that the ban was being "lifted" and flights were "gradually resuming", with no reference to the FAA.
  5. Russian-language Telegram channels put the FAA failure, the National Weather Service outage and the global Microsoft outage of 12–13 November side by side, adding that any link is "not yet known"; US officials call the FAA and Microsoft outages separate issues.

06 What the media say

  • CNNConfirms

    Live blog: the stop is "until further notice"; an FAA spokesperson cites a communications problem at the control centers; preliminarily, it is not a cyberattack.[4]

  • Reuters (via RTÉ)Confirms

    Serious controller communications problems; the second nationwide stop of all departures since September 11, 2001.[5]

  • ABC NewsConfirms

    Quotes the FAA and Secretary Duffy; calls the stop the second since 9/11.[6]

  • CNBCConfirms

    FAA: communications problems at "several" centers; an internal Alaska Airlines message cites communications and radar problems. Hundreds of flights affected.[7]

  • Fox WeatherConfirms

    According to FlightAware, more than 7,800 flights had been delayed or cancelled by 4:45 p.m. New York time (21:45 UTC).[18]

  • AeroTimeContext

    The FAA warned crews in the air to expect holding over airports nationwide; about 3,100 planes were flying over the US at that moment (Flightradar24). A few hours before the failure, the White House and the Department of Transportation asked Congress for $30.1 billion to modernize aviation, including $10.1 billion for the air traffic control system.[19]

  • FOX 9Context

    In early November the FAA began replacing 1980s-era systems at air traffic facilities that still run on floppy disks; it promises to finish by the end of 2028.[23]

  • Reuters (via Global News and IBTimes UK)Context

    The failure has again raised the issue of the FAA's aging equipment and the shortage of air traffic controllers: back in 2025, Congress allocated $12.5 billion to modernize the air traffic control system, and on November 13 the FAA and the White House asked for another $30.1 billion. Officially, this money is not linked to the failure.[21][20]

  • Washington ExaminerContext

    Citing two FAA employees: the cause was a "sequential failure of frequencies" at the centers that guide planes in the air. Not officially confirmed.[8]

  • SecurityWeekContext

    It is not yet clear whether the failure is linked to a cyberattack; there is no official cause.[10]

  • Glavny, 24 Kanal and other Russian-language sitesRepeats

    Retell Clash Report and the Washington Examiner; repeat the "radio frequency disruptions" version.[14][15]

07 Social media

  • X · @FAANewsNeutral

    The FAA's official account: a "temporary telecommunications failure", departures halted out of caution, every flight accounted for.[3]

    2026-11-13 · about 44,000 views 5 minutes after posting

  • X · @SecDuffyNeutral

    Official explanation: a communications problem at all air traffic control centers; technicians are determining the cause.[2]

    2026-11-13 · about 1.6 million views and 11,000 likes as of 2026-11-13

  • XPanic

    Posts talk of a cyberattack and a "completely closed sky"; some accounts hastily claim the ban has already been lifted. Neither was officially confirmed at the time of the posts.[13]

    2026-11-13

08 Similar rumors in the past

  • An FAA communications failure paralysed East Coast airports

    Outcome: True: workers in New Jersey accidentally cut an FAA telecom line, and the backup cable was damaged too. More than 5,600 flights were delayed or cancelled; communications were fully restored only after eight hours.[22]

  • All US flights are halted because of a cyberattack

    Outcome: A failure of the NOTAM pilot alert system: contractors mistakenly deleted files while synchronizing the main and backup databases; no sign of a cyberattack was found. The stop lasted about an hour and a half.[16][19]

  • The skies over the US are closed

    Outcome: True: after the attacks the FAA closed the country's entire airspace for the first time in history, not just departures.[17]

In common with past rumors

  • Breaking news about "closed skies" immediately attracts a cyberattack theory.
  • An official wording with no cause ("extraordinary circumstances") gets filled with guesses.

What is new

  • The cause is controller communications, not the pilot alert system as in 2023.

10 What to do

  • If you are flying to or from the US, check your flight status in the airline's app and on nasstatus.faa.gov, not in Telegram channels.
  • Delays and cancellations may continue over the weekend: stay in touch with your airline and do not go to the airport without a confirmed flight.
  • The cyberattack theories are not confirmed so far: wait for a statement from the FAA or the US Department of Transportation.

11 What we could not verify

  • The exact technical cause of the failure: the FAA has not named it.
  • The official time the blanket ban was lifted: it is no longer on the FAA status page, but we found no statement about lifting it; the FAA notice database for November 13 did not open for us.
  • The final number of delayed and cancelled flights nationwide: only interim FlightAware estimates exist.

12 Sources

  1. FAA — National Airspace System Status (airport status page) · Primary source · accessed 2026.11.14
  2. Sean Duffy, US Transportation Secretary — post about the stop on X · Primary source · accessed 2026.11.13
  3. FAA — statement on X about a temporary telecommunications failure · Primary source · accessed 2026.11.13
  4. CNN — live blog: FAA halts all departures · Reliable · accessed 2026.11.13
  5. RTÉ (Reuters) — all US departures halted · Reliable · accessed 2026.11.13
  6. ABC News — departures halted nationwide · Reliable · accessed 2026.11.13
  7. CNBC — FAA halts departures over communications problems at several centers · Reliable · accessed 2026.11.13
  8. Washington Examiner — FAA imposes nationwide ground stop · Ordinary · accessed 2026.11.13
  9. Flying — FAA announces nationwide ground stop · Ordinary · accessed 2026.11.13
  10. SecurityWeek — stop issued due to "extraordinary circumstances" · Ordinary · accessed 2026.11.13
  11. News9 — FAA halts departures nationwide · Ordinary · accessed 2026.11.13
  12. Yahoo (The Auto Wire) — timeline of the stop · Ordinary · accessed 2026.11.13
  13. Clash Report — the stop is explained by a controller communications problem · Weak · accessed 2026.11.13
  14. Glavny — retelling of Clash Report about the halt of departures · Weak · accessed 2026.11.13
  15. 24 Kanal — all air travel in the US halted · Ordinary · accessed 2026.11.13
  16. Wikipedia — January 2023 FAA system outage · Ordinary · accessed 2026.11.13
  17. FOX 5 NY — FAA closed US skies for the first time on 9/11 · Ordinary · accessed 2026.11.13
  18. Fox Weather — FAA halts departures at all US airports · Reliable · accessed 2026.11.13
  19. AeroTime — controller communications failure hits flights nationwide · Ordinary · accessed 2026.11.13
  20. IBTimes UK — why all departures in the US were halted · Ordinary · accessed 2026.11.13
  21. Global News (Reuters, David Shepardson) — US halts departures nationwide after controller communications failure · Reliable · accessed 2026.11.13
  22. Spokesman-Review (Reuters) — thousands of flights snarled by FAA telecom problem, 21 September 2026 · Reliable · accessed 2026.11.13
  23. FOX 9 — FAA to phase out floppy disks from air traffic control by 2028 · Ordinary · accessed 2026.11.13
  24. NBC News — FAA orders nationwide ground stop for all departing flights for "reasons of safety" · Reliable · accessed 2026.11.13
  25. CBS News — FAA issues nationwide ground stop, no indication of a "nefarious act" · Reliable · accessed 2026.11.13
  26. ABC News (Australia) — live coverage of the US ground stop · Reliable · accessed 2026.11.13
  27. Reuters (via Yahoo) — US National Weather Service reports nationwide internet, communications issues · Reliable · accessed 2026.11.13
  28. Northeastern University — are the FAA ground stop and the Microsoft outage related? · Ordinary · accessed 2026.11.13
  29. BleepingComputer — massive Microsoft 365 outage disrupts Outlook, Teams, Copilot · Reliable · accessed 2026.11.13
  30. Bloomberg — FBI probes whether a software update caused the FAA outage · Reliable · accessed 2026.11.14
  31. WBTV — National Weather Service: issues regional, not widespread · Reliable · accessed 2026.11.14

#FAA#USA#aviation#airports#communications failure#air traffic controllers#cyberattack

Latest news