# FAA issues nationwide ground stop due to "extraordinary circumstances" (for discussion, not breaking news) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 13, 2026, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faa-issues-nationwide-ground-stop-due-to-extraordinary-circumstances-for-discussion-not-breaking-news/1034989 "2026-11-13T21:41:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2026, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faa-issues-nationwide-ground-stop-due-to-extraordinary-circumstances-for-discussion-not-breaking-news/1034989/21 "2026-11-13T22:45:00Z")
I’m beginning to suspect that firing all the people who know how to write code and replacing them with an autocomplete bot may have been a bad move. ---
**Author:** ![dougrb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@dougrb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougrb)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2026, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faa-issues-nationwide-ground-stop-due-to-extraordinary-circumstances-for-discussion-not-breaking-news/1034989/22 "2026-11-13T22:49:04Z")
Only VFR(visual flight rules) flights are being allowed. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2026, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faa-issues-nationwide-ground-stop-due-to-extraordinary-circumstances-for-discussion-not-breaking-news/1034989/23 "2026-11-13T23:02:55Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > Oh for sure, I hope nobody seriously thinks the date has anything to do with it. I mean, if it’s some kind of intentional infrastructure attack on the US, this date might have been chosen for a reason. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2026, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faa-issues-nationwide-ground-stop-due-to-extraordinary-circumstances-for-discussion-not-breaking-news/1034989/24 "2026-11-13T23:15:57Z")
Speaking of which, was it ever confirmed that the date of the 9/11 attacks was specifically chosen because it evoked the emergency number? It always seemed kind of silly to me. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2026, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faa-issues-nationwide-ground-stop-due-to-extraordinary-circumstances-for-discussion-not-breaking-news/1034989/25 "2026-11-13T23:16:51Z")
What are the chances this has to do with knock-on effects from the Microsoft outage yesterday? Could resolving such an outage (or failing to fix it) have impacted communications like this? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2026, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faa-issues-nationwide-ground-stop-due-to-extraordinary-circumstances-for-discussion-not-breaking-news/1034989/26 "2026-11-13T23:19:07Z")
I’m pretty sure they chose the date because Tuesday is the day with the fewest passengers in the air, and the number was a coincidence (especially since most of the world would think of it as 11/9). ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2026, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faa-issues-nationwide-ground-stop-due-to-extraordinary-circumstances-for-discussion-not-breaking-news/1034989/27 "2026-11-13T23:35:45Z")
I hope this was a cyberattack. Much better than the thought that the system is so rickety that it can just collapse on its own. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2026, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faa-issues-nationwide-ground-stop-due-to-extraordinary-circumstances-for-discussion-not-breaking-news/1034989/28 "2026-11-13T23:36:06Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I’m beginning to suspect that firing all the people who know how to write code and replacing them with an autocomplete bot may have been a bad move. The more I think about it the more I’m thinking it’s probably an AI-related fuckup nobody knows how to fix. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2026, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faa-issues-nationwide-ground-stop-due-to-extraordinary-circumstances-for-discussion-not-breaking-news/1034989/29 "2026-11-13T23:38:43Z")
IIRC the forecast of clear weather was also said to have been a factor. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2026, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faa-issues-nationwide-ground-stop-due-to-extraordinary-circumstances-for-discussion-not-breaking-news/1034989/30 "2026-11-13T23:39:38Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > I hope this was a cyberattack. Much better than the thought that the system is so rickety that it can just collapse on its own. I’ve been watching CNN on this, and it seems they are just working up to getting rid of floppy disks, so it is as rickety as it seems. The comment was that since passengers think the system is working fine, there is no drive in Congress for spending the big bucks to upgrade. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2026, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faa-issues-nationwide-ground-stop-due-to-extraordinary-circumstances-for-discussion-not-breaking-news/1034989/31 "2026-11-13T23:51:32Z")
Hegseth is apparently in the Situation Room, Mullin is holding pressers in the West Wing and conferring with Duffy. Trump has been briefed. Man, to be a fly on the wall in the WH right now, you’d be the smartest guy in the room. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2026, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faa-issues-nationwide-ground-stop-due-to-extraordinary-circumstances-for-discussion-not-breaking-news/1034989/32 "2026-11-14T00:00:23Z")
The smartest guy who works in the WH regularly is the janitor. Maybe we should draft him (good bet it’s a him) for President? ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2026, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faa-issues-nationwide-ground-stop-due-to-extraordinary-circumstances-for-discussion-not-breaking-news/1034989/33 "2026-11-14T00:18:30Z")
Wonder if this will affect football this weekend, notably college teams that are flying tonight. Eta: I know it’s not the biggest deal in the world, just wondering out loud. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2026, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faa-issues-nationwide-ground-stop-due-to-extraordinary-circumstances-for-discussion-not-breaking-news/1034989/34 "2026-11-14T00:26:08Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Eta: I know it’s not the biggest deal in the world, just wondering out loud. Of course, if it affected _real_ football (what you heathens call Soccer) it would be. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2026, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faa-issues-nationwide-ground-stop-due-to-extraordinary-circumstances-for-discussion-not-breaking-news/1034989/35 "2026-11-14T00:32:44Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Eta: I know it’s not the biggest deal in the world, just wondering out loud. It may not objectively be a big deal but a lot of people would be pretty unhappy about it, which might pressure the system to update its infrastructure. ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2026, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faa-issues-nationwide-ground-stop-due-to-extraordinary-circumstances-for-discussion-not-breaking-news/1034989/36 "2026-11-14T00:36:16Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > what you heathens call Soccer Not going to deny being a heathen, but bear in mind that the peoples that invented the game were the first to call it _soccer_. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2026, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faa-issues-nationwide-ground-stop-due-to-extraordinary-circumstances-for-discussion-not-breaking-news/1034989/37 "2026-11-14T00:40:30Z")
We never called it Soccer in Argentina ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2026, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faa-issues-nationwide-ground-stop-due-to-extraordinary-circumstances-for-discussion-not-breaking-news/1034989/38 "2026-11-14T00:42:52Z")
Something else that’s puzzling me: if it’s just a transportation issue and nothing nefarious, why is the Secretary of Homeland Security holding the presser and not the Secretary of Transport? I mean, Duffy is literally a media creation, wouldn’t he be the one to talk to the media if given the choice between him and Halfwit Mullin? ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2026, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faa-issues-nationwide-ground-stop-due-to-extraordinary-circumstances-for-discussion-not-breaking-news/1034989/39 "2026-11-14T00:43:04Z")
> [@Edward\_The\_Head](#): > > There was a report that a flight to Europe out of Boston was allowed to leave. The aviation expert they had on suggested that was because going to Europe they don’t get in to the High ARTCC system. I saw several aircraft with European destinations on FlightRadar that appear to have taken off recently (after the ban) so this is likely correct. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2026, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faa-issues-nationwide-ground-stop-due-to-extraordinary-circumstances-for-discussion-not-breaking-news/1034989/40 "2026-11-14T00:43:24Z")
Taking the chance to grandstand? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faa-issues-nationwide-ground-stop-due-to-extraordinary-circumstances-for-discussion-not-breaking-news/1034989.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faa-issues-nationwide-ground-stop-due-to-extraordinary-circumstances-for-discussion-not-breaking-news/1034989.md?page=3)