What Happened?
On Friday, November 13, 2026, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered a rare nationwide ground stop for all U.S. airports due to a communication issue affecting air traffic control. The FAA's alert cited 'extraordinary circumstances and reasons of safety.' It was only the second nationwide ground stop since 9/11 — the last was in 2023 when the FAA NOTAM system went down.
- Scale of disruption: More than 2,000 flights were canceled and over 10,000 were delayed as of 6:20 PM on Friday, according to FlightAware.
- Root cause: Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy described it as 'a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers' — the 22 centers responsible for all flights above 18,000 feet.
- Security assessment: Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there was no indication of a 'nefarious attack,' calling it 'just a telecommunications outage as of now,' though a cyberattack was not ruled out.
What Does This Mean for Travelers?
If you had flights scheduled on Friday or over the weekend, here's what you should know:
- Contact your airline directly for rebooking options — most waived change fees during the disruption
- Flights already in the air continued safely — pilots are trained for exactly these situations
- Check FlightAware or your airline's app for real-time status before heading to the airport
- Expect ripple delays through the weekend as airlines work to reposition aircraft and crews
The Bigger Picture: Infrastructure Vulnerabilities
This incident — coming just one day after the massive Microsoft 365 outage — is a reminder of how dependent modern life has become on interconnected digital infrastructure. Whether it's cloud email, air traffic control, or business IT systems, a single point of failure can cascade quickly. For businesses in South Denver, Parker, and Castle Rock, this is a good time to review your own IT resilience:
- Do you have a backup communication plan if your email or VoIP goes down?
- Are your critical files backed up locally as well as in the cloud?
- Does your team know what to do when a key system becomes unavailable?
- Call us at 720-641-0708 — we can help you build a simple IT continuity plan
Two major technology outages in two days — Microsoft 365 on Thursday and the FAA communications failure on Friday — underscore how critical reliable IT infrastructure has become. If your business needs help building resilience into your systems, Colorado Computers is here. Give us a call at 720-641-0708.
Stay Informed on IT & Tech News
Get tips and alerts from Colorado Computers delivered to your inbox.
Have Questions? We're Here to Help.
Reach out to our team for IT support, backup planning, or any tech concerns.