# Work to replace old copper wire led to the FAA’s ground stop

https://mins.news/en/item/143818

- The Verge, 2026-11-14 17:44 UTC
- Tech
- Original: https://www.theverge.com/transportation/1033898/faa-ground-stop-sean-duffy-faa-copper-wire

> Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the FAA’s nationwide ground stop on Friday was linked to replacing outdated copper wire with fiber at a remote facility. A newly installed router then flooded other air traffic control routers with connection attempts, disrupting radar feeds and communications with planes. The cause remains unclear; Duffy cited possible faulty hardware, a misconfigured router, or contractor L3Harris’s incompetence. He also urged Congress to fund air traffic control modernization.

## Stories

- [US Nationwide Air Traffic Communications Outage and Flight Grounding](https://mins.news/en/topic/faa-nationwide-air-traffic-outage) — Markdown: https://mins.news/en/topic/faa-nationwide-air-traffic-outage.md

## Related coverage

- [US blames outdated technology for nationwide flight disruption](https://mins.news/en/item/143852) — Al Jazeera, 2026-11-14
- [Duffy says unclear whether equipment or contractor error caused flight shutdown](https://mins.news/en/video/143844) — Reuters, 2026-11-14
- [US: What caused the longest nationwide ground stop in 25 years?](https://mins.news/en/item/143771) — France 24, 2026-11-14