FAA orders grounding of flights across the United States, Department of Homeland Security says it has nothing to do with Microsoft system failure

(Central News Agency reporter Zhang Xinyu, San Francisco, 13th) The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a rare order to suspend flights across the country today. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Mullin pointed out that he has not ruled out any possibility at this stage, but it has nothing to do with the global outage of Microsoft 365 service. Democratic U.S. Sen. Duckworth called for a thorough investigation.

It was reported today that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the United States has ordered flights nationwide to suspend takeoffs due to problems with the communication system. All flights preparing to take off at various airports have been grounded.

The Washington Post reported that U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said at a press conference that no possibility has been ruled out at this stage. The most important thing is to keep everyone flying safe.

The incident occurred a day after Microsoft's Microsoft 365, Outlook and Teams services were down globally, and Microsoft has been an important partner of the U.S. federal government for many years, causing concern.

Mullin said the incident had nothing to do with a Microsoft system failure.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy stated on social media that the Federal Aviation Administration ordered all airports in the United States to completely suspend flight departures because of communication system problems affecting Air Route Traffic Control Centers across the United States. FAA technical staff are currently investigating related issues.

The Washington Post also quoted three people familiar with the matter as saying that the order to suspend takeoffs was related to problems with the radio frequencies used to communicate between pilots and air traffic controllers.

It is unclear whether US military aircraft are affected by this grounding order.

U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth posted a message on social media calling for a thorough investigation.

She said: "The safety of aviation in U.S. airspace is based on multiple backup mechanisms. Regardless of the reason for the suspension of flights across the country this time, a comprehensive and thorough investigation must be conducted."

This is the second time since the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001 that the United States has issued a nationwide order to suspend flights. The last time it happened was in January 2023, when the Federal Aviation Administration ordered the suspension of flights across the United States due to a system failure. (Editor: Chen Chenggong) 1151114