Speculation rises over Chicago's role in nationwide FAA ground stop

The FAA issued a nationwide ground stop at all airports “due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety,” saying departing aircraft should remain grounded until further notice.

The Details

• By Matt Stefanski and NBC Chicago Staff
• Published 47 seconds ago
• Updated 34 seconds ago

Questions emerged about where Friday's nationwide ground stop may have originated, and one report points to Chicago.

While discussing the ground stop, an air traffic controller in Denver told a United Airlines crew that the disruption may have started at O’Hare International Airport, according to air traffic control audio.

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“So, the word we got is it may have started in O’Hare and there’s been reports of radio and possibly radar outage or intermittent service there,” the controller said. “It spread quickly to O’Hare, Boston, JFK, LaGuardia and Newark. So the command center has in response issued a nationwide ground stop.”

NBC Chicago has not independently confirmed the report, and the Federal Aviation Administration has not said where the disruption began.

The air traffic controller's comments come as some question why a ground stop for an "equipment outage" was issued at both of Chicago's airports just minutes before the nationwide alert from the FAA came down. It remains unclear if the equipment issued was connected to the FAA outage, however.

The FAA issued a nationwide ground stop at all airports “due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety,” saying departing aircraft should remain grounded until further notice.

In a later statement, the FAA said the alert followed “communication issues impacting multiple Air Route Traffic Control Centers.”

“FAA technicians are investigating the issue. We will provide updates,” the agency said.

The FAA later clarified that the issue stemmed from “a temporary telecommunications outage.”

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin said there was “no indication as of yet that this was a nefarious attack against us.”

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While the investigation remains in its early stages, multiple officials from several agencies told NBC News there is no indication the incident was caused by malicious activity.

Three senior officials also said there was nothing indicating a connection between the FAA incident and Thursday’s Microsoft outage.