Dramatic video and audio has captured the moment pilots and passengers were made aware of an extremely rare ground stop of all flights across the country on Friday.
In a conversation over the radio, a first-time solo pilot was heard panicking when an Air Traffic Control (ATC) crew member told him about the situation on the ground.
The traffic controller alerted the pilot about the nationwide halt and asked him where he wanted to land.
Clueless about the chaos happening 30,000 feet below cruising altitude, the first words that came out of his mouth were: ‘I don’t know what to do.’
While the student pilot went into panic mode, another aviator was shocked after hearing the news.
During a conversation with a controller, he was heard taking a long perplexed pause when he was told about the halt.
The Federal Aviation Administration lifted the nationwide ground stop on around 8.29pm on Friday night.
US aviation regulators initally said that a major communications outage caused disruption in air traffic, which is only the second such shutdown since the 9/11 attacks.
Speaking at a press briefing at the White House, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin confirmed the same and revealed that the introduction of some new technology into an old air traffic control system overwhelmed it.
US aviation regulators issued an extremely rare ground stop of all flights across the country on Friday
Pilots who were airbound were informed by Air Traffic Control about the situation on ground, leaving many panicked about the situation
Passengers on mid-air flights were also alerted about the situation by the pilots, leaving everyone worried about their travel plans
The pilot was a student who was completing his first cross-country trip, WCVB reported.
‘Ma’am, I’m a student pilot. Honestly, this is my first time doing solo cross-country,’ he said in the recording.
He told the ATC controller that he was coming from Hicks Airfield, which is in Fort Worth, Texas.
The controller on the other side of the call remained calm and helped the scared student pilot navigate the situation smoothly.
After the pilot told her where he was coming from, she asked him to land the airplane at the Hicks airport.
‘Landing at Hicks, I advise you land the airplane. There is multiple traffic in the vicinity of Hicks… both helicopters,’ she said.
The pilot asked her if he was clear to land to which she replied that she could not give him clearance to that airport.
The scared pilot then asked about the situation at the airport and if it was just one airport that was facing the problem.
‘There’s nothing wrong with the airport itself? It’s just like nationwide?’ he said.
The traffic controller calmly replied: ‘Affirmative, nothing wrong with Hicks Airport itself. You can change to advisory frequencies; just suggest you land the airplane.’
‘There is a ground stop nationwide. I advise you land your aircraft. Where would you like to land,’ she added.
On the other call, the controller told the pilot: ‘Just a heads up. It is a National Ground stop for all aircraft. Update time unknown.’
To which the aviator replied after a pause: ‘Good copy.’
Videos from mid-air flight also showed pilots announcing the news to passengers.
The Delta flight pilot said: ‘There is a ground stop throughout the US. They say it is due to frequency issues. So that’s all we have.’
The pilot added that while they will be landing to Fort Lauderdale as scheduled, but flights are not allowed to depart from airports anymore.
The passengers, oblivious how to react, carefully heard the pilot as flight attendants took a round across the aisle.
US aviation regulators said that a major communications outage caused disruption in air traffic
The shutdown reportedly caused airlines to cancel more than 1,000 flights and delay nearly 10,000 more
While preliminary reports suggest the outage was not caused by a cyberattack, FBI personnel across the country are monitoring the situation
During the press conference on Froday evening, officials said it needed $50 billion funding for a complete overhaul.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said ‘old hardware that went down’ caused the ground stop of all flights across the country after it was lifted following a major communications outage.
‘I think the question for the American people is, do you want your Congress to fund this?’ Duffy added. ‘President Trump has asked for the money.’
Duffy said the ‘instability’ in the radar communications at air traffic control centers started at 3.36pm. More than 3,500 airplanes were in the air when the ground stop was issued.
The Air Traffic Control System Command Center said at 3.54pm ET that the reason for the immediate halting of US flights was: ‘Due to extraordinary circumstances for safety reasons.’
More than 15,000 flights were delayed and another 5,000 were cancelled.
The Federal Aviation Administration said: ‘There has been a temporary telecommunications outage – out of an abundance of caution, all flights have been halted. Every flight has been accounted for, and international flights will be handled on a case-by-case basis.’
While preliminary reports suggest the outage was not caused by a cyberattack, FBI personnel across the country are monitoring the situation, a law enforcement source told CNN.
The halt triggered immediate chaos and confusion for travelers, with departure boards at many airports showing flights were operating normally, even as customers were unable to board planes.
