All flights in the United States are grounded until further notice “due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety,” the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement.

The FAA issued the ground stop “following a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers,” Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said in a social media post. “FAA technicians are investigating the issue.”

Air Route Traffic Control Centers are regional facilities that handle flights going across the country.

“Traffic should remain ground stopped until further notice,” the FAA said in an advisory. “International flights will be managed on a case by case basis.”

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[–] 112 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) (17 children)

They just upgraded from floppy drives. My money is on them letting a virus into the system, or that the new system had major security problems.

https://www.techspot.com/news/114471-almost-2027-faa-finally-replacing-floppy-disks-used.html

"The FAA wants E-IDS installed at 435 facilities by the end of 2028. Five sites have already replaced their floppy disk-based systems: Atlantic City International Airport, Nashville International Airport, Greater Rochester International Airport, and data processing hubs in Atlanta and Salt Lake City"

Edit: it looks like they also just started expanding and AI traffic management system nationwide.

https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/11/faa-expands-ai-advice-to-manage-air-traffic-congestion-across-entire-us-airspace/

https://avweb.com/aviation-news/faa-expands-ai-assisted-traffic-management/

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  • [–] 33 points 20 hours ago (2 children)

    Some piece of data for Delta didn’t go through Atlanta and the whole thing panicked.

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  • [–] 5 points 19 hours ago (4 children)

    I would have stayed with floppies. Less to go wrong.

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  • [–] 10 points 19 hours ago (3 children)

    They wear out and IDK if it’s feasible to get replacements manufactured.

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  • [–] 11 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

    I dunno, it’s probally easier to make/obtain floppies than RAM right now.

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  • [–] 6 points 20 hours ago (7 children)

    The upgrade won't be complete until the end of 2028

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  • [–] 22 points 20 hours ago

    Five sites have already replaced their floppy disk-based systems: Atlantic City International Airport, Nashville International Airport, Greater Rochester International Airport, and data processing hubs in Atlanta and Salt Lake City

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  • [–] 9 points 20 hours ago (4 children)

    But no real knowledge of when what will be done, they also announced a rollout of an AI system. Plus there was a blip with weather radar earlier. It could be anything really, or everything

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  • [–] 4 points 18 hours ago (3 children)

    As long as we’re wildly speculating I’d like to posit: aliens are attacking the earth

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