UPDATE: Nationwide ground stop lifted, FAA says

The Federal Aviation Administration says the nationwide ground stop has been lifted after four hours, ABC News reports.

Flights nationwide are grounded due to a “communication issue,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed.

In an update Friday night from the White House, Duffy blamed the ground stop on old hardware and called on Congress to provide $50 billion for a systems overhaul.

The DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin assured people no one was ever in danger and dismissed conspiracy theories.

The FAA confirmed the ground stop, due to unspecified “extraordinary circumstances,” just before 4 p.m.

Original story

Passengers are stranded at airports across the country as the FAA has grounded all flights for an undetermined amount of time.

The FAA says a “temporary telecommunications outage” was the cause of the nationwide ground stop.

Channel 2 Action News is hearing from passengers stuck trying to leave Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and from others trying to get back home to Atlanta.

Ashley Aylward spoke to Channel 2’s Jorge Estevez and says she was on her plane getting ready to take off when flights were grounded.

Aylward says they were initially told there were technical difficulties with the plane before learning there was a ground stop in effect.

“It brought me back to 9/11. I was definitely nervous, but, I mean, we’re still here. We’re still sitting on the runway and still no word on what’s going on and if we were going back to the gate,” Aylward said over the phone.

Channel 2’s Michael Doudna is at the airport talking to passengers who say they have not received any updates, which has left them questioning when they will be able to leave.

“I got scared, I was like, ‘What is going on?’” one woman said. “That has never happened while I was at the airport.”

Channel 2 Action News producer Kyle Moreton was trying to get back home to Atlanta from San Jose, California when his flight was grounded.

Moreton told Channel 2’s Wendy Corona and Karyn Greer live during Channel 2 Action News at 4 p.m. that he was on the plane when he learned there was a ground stop.

He says they were let off of the plane, so they are not waiting on the tarmac for an undetermined amount of time.

Follow WSB-TV’s live updates on the situation here.

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