The U.S. aviation industry has just experienced its second nationwide ground stop since 9/11, and the SMART air traffic control AI system, which was rolled out nationwide just three days ago, is now caught in the center of an investigation. On November 13, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered a nationwide grounding of departing flights due to a telecommunications outage at the air traffic control center. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas stated at a press conference that day that the grounding did not appear to be directly related to a Microsoft 365 outage, but that “at this stage, nothing can be ruled out” regarding the possible involvement of a new AI system. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which reports to him, has begun an investigation. According to FlightAware data (as reported by The Guardian), nearly 7,000 flights across the United States had been delayed or canceled by that afternoon.
According to USA TODAY and GeekWire, the FAA’s grounding order took effect at 3:54 PM Eastern Time on January 13, citing “special circumstances” and safety concerns. Flights already in the air were allowed to continue to their destinations, while international flights heading to the United States were handled on a case-by-case basis. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy revealed that the communication failure affected all 22 of the FAA’s high-altitude control centers. Marlin added that two areas in the country still had normal communication. He characterized the problem as a telecommunications outage affecting air traffic control centers, the cause of which has not yet been determined, and repeatedly emphasized, “This is not another 9/11.” This is the second time the United States has grounded all flights nationwide since September 11, 2001; the last time was on January 2023 due to a failure in the FAA’s Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system. As of Friday afternoon, FlightAware reported that the total number of delayed and canceled flights was approaching 7,000.
The timing is certainly noteworthy. The FAA had just announced on November 10th that it would roll out SMART to all 22 air traffic control centers, and three days later, a nationwide incident occurred. When asked about the connection between the grounding and the new system, Marlin simply stated, "We are investigating." The Department of Homeland Security has already intervened through CISA. When asked if it was related to AI, he first corrected the reporter's wording, saying, "We call it SI here" (meaning "Super Intelligence," a term favored by former U.S. President Trump), and then added, "At this stage, we cannot rule anything out. We will follow the process and determine the cause.
Regarding Microsoft 365, Marlin denied any connection, stating, "I don't see any reason to link these two events." He said that no signs of malicious attacks have been detected so far, but he did not rule out the possibility of a cyberattack. Controllers can still communicate at "a certain level," but the malfunction has "overwhelmed some of our systems," and restoring normal operations "cannot be resolved within an hour.
According to reports from GeekWire and other media outlets, SMART is a cloud-based system that aggregates approximately 200 data streams, including weather, flight routes, and air traffic controller schedules, to recommend flight times and route plans. All recommendations are reviewed by FAA specialists, and local air traffic control facilities independently decide whether to adopt them. The system does not directly take over command. This tool is provided by Boston-based Air Space Intelligence and is part of a 12-year, $875 million contract with the FAA, which also covers a broader traffic flow management platform. On September 21 of this year, SMART was launched in a limited capacity in the airspace around Washington.
Concerns about this AI tool didn't begin with the recent grounding. On October 13, Democratic members of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), requesting a review of the safety measures, testing, performance indicators, training, and deployment arrangements for SMART and the related FMDS system. Previously, some members of Congress had also called on the FAA to suspend the use of the tool in the Washington area. Before the investigation concludes, the system will have to handle the Thanksgiving travel peak. Every route suggestion it provides will be scrutinized.