Ground stop

This article is about a term for a single airport. For the FAA authority to ground all planes, see SCATANA.

A ground stop is an air traffic control procedure that requires all aircraft that fit certain criteria to remain on the ground. This could be airport specific or perhaps equipment or airspace specific, depending on the exact event that caused the ground stop to occur. Downstream effects can occur from the hazard, causes flights to be delayed or canceled and flight crew being unable to reach the location of their next scheduled aircraft.

Description

A ground stop is an air traffic control measure that slows or halts the flow of aircraft that meet certain criteria, requiring all aircraft of a certain criteria to remain on the ground. Often, the criteria is aircraft inbound to a given airport, where a ground stop is the halting of departing aircraft destined for one particular airport or for a specific geographic area.[1] The criteria could be airport specific or perhaps equipment or airspace specific, depending on the exact event that caused the ground stop to occur. [2] A ground stop does not affect flights en route.[3]

Use

For example, if a ground stop is called for Newark Liberty International Airport, aircraft departing for Newark from other airports will not be given departure clearance until such time that the ground stop in Newark is lifted. This allows, in this example, for Newark to deal with the task at hand preparing for arriving aircraft once the ground stop is lifted.

Ground stops may occur during an operational event (e.g., a computer outage), a thunderstorm or other weather concerns (e.g., due to the danger of wind shear or hail), or another hazard.

As a possible downstream effect, flights that have not departed their airport of origin could be delayed or cancelled by the carrier. As well as this, pilots and flight crew may be held up by a ground stop, unable to get to the next aircraft that they are supposed to staff on time. Because of this, further flights may be delayed or even canceled with the flight crew that was supposed to staff them stuck or otherwise delayed by a ground stop.[4]

Notable examples

• On September 11, 2001, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a ground stop for the entire United States as a precaution against possible additional terrorist attacks by airplane. In addition to grounding international flights which had not yet departed, flights already in the air were either returned to their origin departure airport, or diverted to Canadian airports in Operation Yellow Ribbon. The ground stop was lifted on September 13, when departures from airports within the US also resumed. This was the first ever closure of this magnitude.[5][6]
• In January 2014, Nav Canada issued a ground stop for Toronto Pearson due to cold weather. The airport authority said the extreme cold was causing "equipment freezing and safety issues for employees."[7]
• On January 25, 2019, the FAA declared a ground stop at New York's LaGuardia Airport over a staffing shortage caused by the government shutdown.[8]
• On January 10, 2022, the FAA issued a ground stop for the West Coast of the US and Hawaii. It is speculated it was related to a North Korean missile test, but no official reason was given by the FAA.[9]
• On July 25, 2022, a ground stop was declared at Dallas Love Field after a woman fired a gun into the air near the ticket counters, prompting an evacuation of the terminal.[10][11][12]
• On January 11, 2023, a nationwide ground stop was declared across the US following the failure of the FAA's NOTAM system.[13][14]
• On February 4, 2023, an immediate ground stop was issued by the FAA on the east coast of the Carolinas,[15] impacting Myrtle Beach International Airport, Charleston International Airport and Wilmington International Airport, due to the 2023 Chinese balloon incident.[16][17][18]
• On June 7, 2023, the FAA issued a ground stop at LaGuardia International Airport in New York City due to extreme smoke haze in the area from Canadian wildfires.[19]
• On July 19, 2024, Delta, American and United Airlines issued a "global ground stop" amid global computer systems outages.[20]

See also

• Security Control of Air Traffic and Air Navigation Aids (SCATANA)
• Operation Yellow Ribbon
• 2024 Crowdstrike Incident

References

1. "What's a Ground Stop?". businesstravel.about.com. Archived from the original on 2014-04-12.
2. "Ground Stop". Pilot/Controller Glossary. March 21, 2024. Retrieved July 20, 2024.
3. "Section 13. Ground Stop(s)". Traffic Management National, Center, and Terminal. Federal Aviation Administration.
4. Chokshi, Niraj; Taylor, Derrick Bryson; Kilgannon, Corey (2024-07-19). "Airlines Restart Flights but Disruptions are Expected to Persist". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-07-20.
5. ddancis (2021-09-10). "Shutting Down the Sky: The Federal Aviation Administration on 9/11". The Text Message. Retrieved 2024-07-20.
6. "NAV CANADA - NAV CANADA and the 9/11 Crisis". 2012-04-18. Archived from the original on 2012-04-18. Retrieved 2024-07-20.
7. Pearson airport delays: What you need to know, CBC.ca, January 7, 2014; retrieved January 7, 2014. Archived January 7, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
8. "Air Traffic Sick Calls Force Brief Ground Stop at LaGuardia, Cause Total Chaos Along East Coast".
9. "FAA's Statement on Mysterious Air Traffic Halt Leaves More Questions Than Answers". 11 January 2022.
10. "Law enforcement identifies suspect who fired shots at Dallas Love Field, forcing airport evacuations". WFAA. Dallas, Texas. July 25, 2022. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
11. Prosser, Maggie; Landers, Jamie; Williams, Michael; Arnold, Arnold; Choi, Hojun (July 25, 2022). "Dallas police shoot armed woman after several shots fired inside Love Field airport". The Dallas Morning News. Dallas, Texas. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
12. Prosser, Maggie (July 25, 2022). "What we know about the shooting at Love Field airport". The Dallas Morning News. Dallas, Texas. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
13. "ATCSCC Advisory". www.fly.faa.gov. Retrieved 2023-01-11.
14. "FAA system outage leads to flight delays across U.S." CNBC. Retrieved 2023-01-11.
15. "FAA News release on twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 2023-02-04.
16. Bushard, Brian. "FAA Grounds Planes In Carolinas As Chinese Spy Balloon Suspected Nearby". Forbes. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
17. Accettulla, Kevin. "Ground stop issued at Myrtle Beach International Airport due to suspected Chinese spy balloon". WBTW. Archived from the original on 4 February 2023. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
18. "Ground stop issued along Carolina coast after unconfirmed sightings of Chinese spy balloon". WCNC. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
19. "FAA issues ground stop at LaGuardia airport due to smoke". CNN. June 7, 2023. Archived from the original on June 7, 2023. Retrieved July 12, 2023.
20. "Live updates: Major global IT outage grounds flights, hits banks and businesses around the world". NBC News. 2024-07-20. Retrieved 2024-07-20.