Flightradar24 images show flights disappearing from the skies over the US

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) lifted a nationwide ground stop on November 13, 2026, after more than four hours without departures. The Trump administration blamed a lack of funding and an outdated analog air traffic control system for the shutdown. The agency warned that the return to normal schedules will be slow across the country.

Planes carrying more passengers will have priority in the departure queue. The halt began after instability in communications forced the network to shut down to prevent accidents.

How the skies over America emptied on flight maps

The effect of the FAA decision was clear on flight tracking systems. Images from Flightradar24, a Swedish flight tracking service, showed the contrast in U.S. continental airspace over a 24-hour period. Before the failure, the map showed normal traffic covered by thousands of yellow dots representing planes en route.

During the halt, the map of the continental country was almost empty, a visual sign of how much of the commercial fleet stayed on the ground. The change between the two images took place within a single 24-hour interval.

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Old equipment and funding gap cited by officials

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the air traffic system ran overloaded because it depended on old equipment. He said only the new components, recently installed by the Trump administration, held up during the failure. Duffy also described old switches and copper lines dating back to the 1980s.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin estimated that a complete overhaul of the system would cost about US$ 50 billion. The government blamed Congress for releasing only part of the funds requested.

After the outage, Duffy said the stop was an emergency. He asked lawmakers to approve the immediate release of funds to complete the FAA’s technology modernization.

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Officials say no risk to passengers and no cyberattack

Federal authorities said the communications failure did not put lives at risk. The total halt of departures was a precautionary measure. Critical activities involving risk to life kept communications stable during the episode.

Mullin also denied any link between the air traffic failure and problems in Microsoft systems the day before. He said there is no sign of a cyberattack against American infrastructure, although teams keep investigating. Mullin added that officials are checking incompatibilities between the old equipment and newer technology being installed.

Times, delays and the effect on airports

• Ground stop lifted: 8:15 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday.
• Instability began: 3:36 p.m. Eastern Time.
• Planes in the air when the order was issued: more than 3,500, according to Duffy.
• Flights delayed or canceled: more than 10,000, according to FlightAware.
• Airport effect: slow return, with priority for planes carrying more passengers.