Duffy blames contractor work for FAA ground stop
NewsNation reports that Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy blames routine contractor maintenance — swapping decades-old copper wire for fiber-optic lines — for the communications outage behind the FAA's nationwide ground stop of all departing flights on 13 November 2026, which was lifted that evening after about four hours. FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford apologized, saying the stop was for the public's safety, while Duffy urges Congress to pass emergency funding of up to $50 billion to overhaul the aging system.
