Controllers Question Duffy’s Account of Nationwide Flight Ground Stop

Giaritelli told CNN’s Laura Coates on Friday that she had spoken with 60 controllers about the Federal Aviation Administration shutdown, only the third nationwide ground stop. “None of them are buying what he said,” she reported, quoting controllers who questioned whether Duffy’s account explained the outage.

At a White House briefing Friday, Duffy said overloaded switches and routers had generated inconsistent radar and communications data, forcing officials to shut down the system. The FAA lifted the ground stop at about 8:15 p.m. Eastern, but disruption continued Saturday. Giaritelli said controllers told her that such equipment work is usually done midweek, overnight, when air traffic is light.

On Saturday, Duffy said the overload occurred as contractor L3Harris Technologies Inc. replaced a section of old copper wire with fiber. He said officials were investigating whether contractor “incompetence” or a faulty router was responsible. Duffy denied that the FAA’s $875 million Strategic Management of Airspace, Routes, and Trajectories (SMART) system caused the outage, saying it “is not even plugged in.” The FAA had said it would use SMART in all 22 air traffic control centers.

Duffy renewed his call for $50 billion in congressional funding to overhaul the system. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said investigators had found no evidence of a cyberattack, though the possibility had not been ruled out. Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-Va.) cited a September Government Accountability Office report warning that modernization risks could bring disruptions and safety incidents. Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul called for Duffy’s resignation.

The shutdown was the longest nationwide aviation stoppage in 25 years. More than 3,500 aircraft were airborne when the FAA ordered the grounding, and FlightAware reported more than 4,100 cancellations on Saturday. FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said normal operations were expected to resume by Sunday evening.