America.. stopping all flights nationwide due to “exceptional circumstances”

The US Aviation Administration announced, in a statement, the suspension of all flights in the United States until further notice, “due to exceptional circumstances and safety considerations.” The Aviation Administration stated that the decision came as a result of a “temporary communications failure,” and explained that “out of the utmost caution, all flights have been suspended.”

She indicated that all flights have been counted, while international flights “will be dealt with separately.” Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullen said that officials have not yet discussed a time frame for resolving the communications disruption, as efforts are currently focused on ensuring the safety of passengers.

“We did not discuss any time frame,” Mullen told reporters at the White House. “It will take some time, so the problem will not be resolved and things will return to normal in one hour.” According to a source in the aviation sector familiar with what air traffic controllers face, the malfunctions include air traffic control radars, in addition to radio frequencies, as they were cut off at the same time.

The source explained that air traffic controllers do not have any clear information about the cause of the malfunction and what exactly is happening. Last year, air traffic controllers responsible for flights arriving or departing from Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey faced repeated malfunctions in radar and communications, as a result of problems with a copper cable transmitting information, which led to a communications outage.