Flights paused across the US due to 'communication issue'

I want to take you live now to Randall Newsome, a reporter there at Hobby Airport with the latest. But what we have heard from Homeland Security Secretary Mark Wayne Mullin says there's no indication yet of a nefarious act behind the FAA communications issue. What else have you learned, Randall? Yeah, so here at the Hobby Airport we actually just heard the announcement that there could be some cancellations. There could be some delays that people should expect as they're getting ready to head wherever they're going. So we've been kind of keeping track here at the airport. People are kind of just getting the news. They're getting very close to their phones and staying close just to make sure they're not missing any updates, any alerts that they could be getting. In regards to their flights, I spoke to a man earlier who was talking about his travel plans and they may change completely. He might not even head out tonight just to play it safe because of that uncertainty of not knowing what the situation is. A lot of uncertainty right now, but you know, things are pretty calm here at Hobby. People are just waiting patiently, waiting to see what kind of updates they could get here in the near future. Some people are delayed a couple hours. Some people are delayed up to three hours. So This could have a big impact on today's travel. We'll kind of keep an eye on things here at Hobby to see if things could get better or they could get worse here in the near future. And you will hear from the guy who I was talking about earlier who was headed to Tennessee. His plans could change, but we'll talk about that here in just a little bit. All right, we do want to show an outside look there where Randall Newsome, as our reporter, the Federal Aviation Administration grounded all flights nationwide because of communication problems at regional air traffic control centers. Now, the FAA notice says that the ground stop was being imposed due to extraordinary circumstances for reason of safety. And Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said there is a communications issue that is affecting the 22 regional aircraft control centers that direct the planes en route between airports nationwide. He also said that The FAA technicians are investigating. Now, this is the first nationwide ground stop since January 2023. And so that's what's kind of happening right now. Are you learning that other people are maybe changing their plans there, Randall? Hey, Randall, can you hear me? Yes. Yes, I got you. Can you hear me? Yes. Are you learning that other people have already changed their plans there? I see a lot of suitcases that were up against the wall there that people are kind of just sitting put. Well, those folks are just kind of hanging out because there are delays. There's still a chance that they could make their flights just a little bit later. But I did speak to a man, Hamon Tucker, who was telling me that his flight and his plan was to get to Nashville tonight because he had a gig he had to show up to the next day. But his wife is worried, his kids are a little worried about, you know, taking a risk depending on what's going on. So he's waiting to find information before he takes this thing any further as far as his plans tonight. So he's the only one I've heard. is thinking about canceling. Most people are still hanging in there to try to see if they can just hang out a little while longer, see if the fortunes could change, if this could get fixed, and they can catch their flight. All right, we've been kind of looking at airports all across the country there because this is kind of a sight to see. Like I said earlier, this has not happened since January 2023 when a key FAA computer system malfunctioned. Before that, the last time had been after the September 11, 2001 attacks and the government has been working to overhaul the outdated technology. This is according to AP that air traffic controllers rely on since Congress approved the $12.5 billion for the During the project last year, miles of old copper Copper wires have been replaced with fiber optic lines and old radio systems are gradually being replaced at airports across the country, but much work remains. And Duffy also said that another $30 billion will be needed to complete the work, and the White House has begun lobbying Congress to approve it. Now, there at the airport, we've been talking to Randall here at Hobby Airport. Does it seem like people are worried, or does it seem they're kind of taking it in stride? So far, so good. It feels like people are kind of taking it in stride. They're not really too, too worried. Some people are walking up saying, do you know what's going on? They're seeing some of the national headlines out there and keeping up online. But so far, so good. Everybody's pretty much chilling here at Hobby. There's no panic. There's no chaos. Everybody's just kind of patiently sitting. As you can see, they're just kind of. Hanging out, waiting for some good news. Hopefully their flights, sooner rather than later, will be getting updates and getting them on their way to their destination. So that's the feel here at Hobby. Nobody's really freaking out. It's just kind of hanging in there, trying to see and get those updates as they come. But overall, no panic, lots of smiles on faces, lots of patience, people on their phones just kind of hanging out. Thank you. Yeah, they said they're going. Oh, y'all going to cancel? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, y'all just going to go home. Okay, I'm sorry if I could just talk to you guys really quick. Oh, so where were you headed? Where were you guys? Y'all are going to Dallas. Yeah, American College of Physicians meeting in Dallas. Unfortunately, we can't make it. Okay, so did they cancel? No. Our flight or the whole meeting? The flight. Not the meeting. No, well, we don't know yet, but we know we aren't going to get there in time for everything. Okay, so you guys, you're just going to play it safe and just head back home? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, just have a nice, quiet night at home. Yeah, it could get busy here. Very grateful. There you look this way. She's a better looking one. Thank you so much. Very grateful. Grateful that we live here and we can go home. A little sorry for all the people stuck here. Yeah. They have no place to stay, and they're missing birthday parties. We talked to a lot of people that are missing major events, so we feel really bad for them. And we don't have bags we have to go wait for. They said you're going to have to wait for your bags, like, for hours. They have 3,000 bags, they said. It's worth it. But, I mean, overall, if you look at the atmosphere, everybody's trying to be more relaxed. That's Houston. That's Texas. These people are nice. Nice. Yeah. Well, okay. Well. Safe travels back home. Thank you guys for stopping in. All right, take care. Hopefully get to that destination eventually. Oh, no, it's not going to work out. No, no, no, it's a time-limited meeting. Well, go enjoy dinner at the house. Okay, thank you. Okay, bye-bye. And, I mean, that's pretty much the feel, guys. I mean, it's pretty much that. You know, people are feeling pretty good about today, not panicking, not freaking out, but, of course, she did mention that people might have some important plans that they're trying to get to. At some point tonight or this weekend so you know you feel for them but overall the atmosphere here has been pretty calm you know no no real you know major you know blow ups or anything like that about their plans so you know overall this is the atmosphere I mean people have been just kind of hanging out walking nobody's running nobody nobody's panicked so right now people are waiting on those updates of course to see what's going to happen going forward into tonight. Some people, you know, they might hold on a couple of hours. Some people might hold on just a little bit longer than that. But overall, there's still chances. I'm seeing way more delay than possible cancellations on that board. I see a few delays up to an hour, two hours, three hours. But right now, that's the most that people are worried about. Just delays, no cancellations as of right now. Okay, and we did first hear about this from Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy when he issued the nationwide ground stop for all U.S. airports following the communications issue impacting all air traffic control centers. And we also got a chance to hear from Secretary of Homeland Security Mark Wayne Mullen, and he wanted to emphasize that everyone is safe, that their goal is to get all flights on the ground and resume normal operations. Of course, that has not happened as of yet. This is a live shot right now outside Thank you for joining us. working on on getting those final details. We also now have Randy Wallace. Thank you so much. Randall Newsom there reporting for us at Hobby Airport. We want to take you out now to reporter Randy Wallace, who is at Intercontinental George Bush Airport. Randy, what are you seeing after this statement, this ground stop was issued? Well, you know, Coco, what's kind of strange is It's everything appears. signs, it'll say that a flight is on time or a flight is delayed. People are checking their bags in for flights, and it's like normal. And I'm not sure. We just got here, so I haven't been able to talk to anyone yet. I don't know what, if people are being told when they go to the ticket counter, hey, we're having a ground stop, so no one is going anywhere. But as you can kind of see from the shot that Raymond's taken, People are going around like any normal time here at the airport. But again, we're under a ground stop, so no flights are departing. And of course, the big thing, the big question is... Not only how long will this take, but how long will it take to rebound from something like this? If this goes on for two, three, four hours, you would assume that it could possibly be a day or two, right, before the flights get back to normal, before everything gets back to normal. And, of course, you've got to remember, too, there are pilots and flight attendants that they're timing out, you know, You know, and there are flights that... Would leave Houston to go to someplace else. I mean, everything is just going to be kind of questionable for a while because nobody knows at this point when this is going to end. And again, people are checking their bags. They're going to gates just like it would be a normal day here, Coco. I'm sorry. Right now, Randy, we are showing a map. I know you can't see it, but these are all the delays across the United States. If you can take a look, it's kind of hard to see a little bit. But according to the airport codes there, I believe that the first one is Orlando 238. Atlanta is delayed 233. And are we talking minutes here, producer? No, and again, if you look at, you know, the normal things that you look at as far as departures and arrivals, it says on time or delayed. There's nothing that people can look at from our vantage point that would say there's a ground stop going on and no planes are leaving here. You wouldn't, I don't think you would know that unless you've listened to the news or someone has told you. Because, again, right now I'm seeing at the American ticket counter a woman is checking her bags, a guy is helping her. I mean, it's like anything else. They might be telling them, hey, we're not going to go anywhere for a while. I mean, maybe people are being told that, but they're still checking their bags in just like any other normal day. Yeah, and that's what it looks like, Randy. I was going to ask you if people are aware of what's happening. And can you kind of show us the area where we're seeing any delays on the board there? Are you able to show us that screen there with your photographer? Now we're. Can you shoot the board, Raymond? I'm going to walk over to it so I can kind of read it to you. Oh, I can see some. Yeah. Yeah, there's Portland, Oregon on time. Salt Lake City on time. Of course, we know none of this is true. I only see one flight. The New York LaGuardia is canceled. And some of them have delays. Now 6 p.m., now 5.30. Of course, that can't be correct either because you couldn't delay flights if you're not. Taking off, you know, none of the flights are taking off. It's a ground delay. So that information is it's not going to be correct. That's on those signs there. Okay. And you know, Randy, and that's what kind of worries me. We just got to just a few more seconds as the people are looking at this. If you're not on your phone and seeing it, you're thinking that your flight is on time. You're like, oh, that's not affecting me, but you're right. It's not true. It has not been updated. All right, Randy, just stand by. I know we've got so much more coverage coming up here on Fox 26 news at five. Thank you so much for joining us. Fox 26 news at five starts next.