Welcome to today’s daily update for Saturday, November 14, 2026. Here’s everything you need to know.
The Breakdown
The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was forced to order a nationwide ground stop amid a persistent radio and communications issue yesterday afternoon before lifting the order later in the day.
The order was issued at 3:54 pm, but the FAA left many in the dark with a vague statement issuing the order and citing “extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety.” It was later found out that the order was due to a major equipment failure involving communications equipment from contractor L3Harris.
Much of the FAA’s equipment is incredibly old, dating back to the 1980s, which has prompted a recent overhaul of the system as L3Harris designs new hardware and implements various software updates to renew the system. Nevertheless, these updates can cause problems.
When the latest update was launched, it overloaded old equipment that had not yet been replaced, wiping out communications at all 22 of the agency’s Air Route Traffic Control Centers – these locations guide planes at cruising altitude, allowing them to safely descend and avoid crashing into other aircraft while high in the sky. Because the FAA was no longer able to communicate with pilots, they were forced to order a nationwide ground stop, halting all departures.
Meanwhile, with spotty radio and inconsistent radar coverage, hundreds of planes were forced to make emergency landings across the nation. More than 30,000 flights that were scheduled for the rest of the day were grounded, stranding crews and passengers.
The ground stop was lifted at 8:15 pm, allowing many travelers to breathe a sigh of relief for following flights, but airlines are managing an enormous workload as employees reroute planes, move stranded travelers, recalculate fees, and manage delays for the coming days. Delays will likely persist across the nation for the next few days, though, as airlines work to get crews and flights back on track before a busy Thanksgiving travel week.
The FBI confirmed that, contrary to public opinion, the outage was not due to a cyberattack, and the FAA attributed the issue to the aforementioned cause, not the new AI system, SMART, that they rolled out earlier this week.
The ground stop was only one of three since the turn of the millenium, with one being issued after the devastating attacks on September 11, 2001, and another taking place in January 2023 due to a major outage in a pilot notice system that alerts them to hazards.
The Global Snapshot
This year’s climate Conference of the Parties (COP31) has kicked off, with nations pushing new goals for pulling back ecosystem destruction and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Rather than directly targeting fossil fuels, as they have done in the past, this year’s COP31 is seeing countries take a different approach. Nations are pushing for plans on the electrification of vehicles, the construction of sustainable and affordable housing, and clean and efficient public transportation. However, several countries have brought another concern to light – mining disproportionately impacts developing countries like Bolivia or the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but the minerals obtained through the process are crucial to all three goals listed above as well as various others. Furthermore, passing anything binding or of importance at all will be tough, as lobbyists from fossil fuel-rich countries and oil companies pack the summit every year in order to take down climate protections.
Fact of the Day (The Fact Site): 85% of Valentine’s Day Cards are bought by women, but men purchase 73% of Valentine’s Day flowers.
Quote of the Day (Gracious Quotes): Greed is a fat demon with a small mouth and whatever you feed it is never enough. (Janwillem van de Wetering)
Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster): Impertinent (adj, im-PER-tuh-nunt) - Impertinent is a formal word describing someone or something that is rude and showing a lack of respect.
In a Sentence: The band stopped doing interviews after years of journalists asking invasive and impertinent questions.
Image: Matthew Bisanz / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0
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