Robert Garcia demands answers as Trump officials offer few details on nationwide ground stop stranding flyers

For only the second time since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Federal Aviation Administration halted airline departures nationwide Friday, ordering planes to stay on the ground as officials investigated an air traffic control communications problem. The outage comes days after the federal government rolled out an aviation system that uses artificial intelligence.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the issue affected all Air Route Traffic Control Centers. The FAA cited “extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety.”

“FAA technicians are investigating the issue,” Duffy wrote on X.

The Advocate contacted the FAA for comment, but the agency pointed to Duffy’s social media post.

Related: Robert Garcia says Democrats are prepared to put Trump officials under oath

Garcia presses for answers

Appearing on MS NOW with Nicolle Wallace, Rep. Robert Garcia urged the administration to explain the failure and its implications for travelers.

“I don’t want to prejudge what could be happening, but it is incredibly serious,” he said.

Garcia, who serves on the House aviation subcommittee and will take over as chairman of the House Oversight Committee in January, warned that the disruption would spread through interconnected airline schedules.

“When you ground this many flights at once, it causes a ripple effect,” he said.

He called for transparency from the FAA, the Transportation Department, and White House, stressing that passengers preparing to board deserved to understand the problem.

Waiting at LAX

MS NOW’s Eugene Daniels experienced that uncertainty from a plane at Los Angeles International Airport, where he was trying to return to D.C. after attending Thursday night’s Out100 gala.

Speaking with Wallace, Daniels said the captain announced the ground stop, then walked through the cabin answering questions. Passengers were told the delay could be brief or require them to leave the aircraft.

“I’m looking out the window of the flight, and it’s quite a sight just seeing planes not moving,” Daniels said.

Crew members were also seeking answers, he said.

“So they’re actually asking me to give them information from the show as I’m here now listening and talking to you,” he told Wallace.

Other passengers at airports around the country reported being told that the delay would take six to seven hours, according to MS NOW.

Recent AI technology rollout

The disruption came three days after the FAA announced it would expand its AI-assisted traffic planning platform to airspace managed by all 22 U.S. Air Route Traffic Control Centers, FLYING reported. SMART has not been identified as the cause of Friday’s outage.

The $875 million Strategic Management of Airspace Routing Trajectories system recommends route changes to reduce delays and fuel consumption, Gizmodo reported Thursday. The FAA says a Washington-based team reviews its findings before recommendations reach air traffic controllers, who retain final authority over routing decisions.

The agency says the system rerouted 180 flights during its initial Washington-area deployment, saving an average of 10 minutes and 80 gallons of fuel per flight, according to Gizmodo.

But the rollout has drawn questions about testing, training and workforce involvement. The National Air Traffic Controllers Association said it had not participated in SMART’s design, testing or implementation, Gizmodo reported, citing FLYING.

House Democrats have asked the Government Accountability Office to examine the rollout, including its performance measures and safety protections, according to Gizmodo’s account. Their concerns include whether the system could interfere with controllers’ judgment or generate inaccurate safety-critical information.

The previous nationwide ground stop, in January 2023, followed a failure of the FAA’s pilot notification system and lasted less than two hours.

When reporters asked at the White House whether Friday’s emergency was AI-related, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said, “We call it SI around here, remember?”

President Donald Trump recently declared that he disliked the term “artificial intelligence” because it made the technology sound fake, and signed an executive order directing federal agencies to call it “super intelligence,” or SI.

The Advocate has contacted Garcia’s office for comment.