Dallas’ two major airports were thrown into chaos Friday afternoon when the Federal Aviation Administration issued ground stop orders after controllers “lost all radar and phone communications,” according to officials and reports.
Dallas Love Field and Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport were both under a ground stop and a ground delay for several hours after communications equipment malfunctions popped up just after 4 p.m. local time, according to the FAA.
Love Field experienced on-and-off ground stops which were finally lifted for good just prior to DFW getting the all-clear later Friday night, FAA data showed.
American Airlines passenger jets parked at their gates on a rainy morning at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport which serves the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, metroplex area in Texas. Getty Images
“The FAA is slowing flights at Dallas Love Field and Dallas-Forth Worth International Airport due to a reported local telephone company equipment issue that does not involve FAA equipment,” the flight safety agency said.
“The FAA is working with the telephone company to determine the cause.”
The technical issues impacted Dallas TRACON — the Terminal Radar Approach Control facility which handles arrivals and departures at both airports, local Fox affiliate KDFW reported, citing officials.
One air controller in the Love Field Air Traffic Control tower made the announcement that he lost all contact with planes.
“We’ve lost all radar and phone communications,” he said, according to audio recorded by LiveATC.net, CNN reported.
“I’m not departing anybody until we can get a system setup. We have no comms on approach right now.”
The issues are expected to persist for several more hours. Nay – stock.adobe.com
Officials also issued a ground stop for flights departing to Fort Worth Alliance Airport, McKinney National Airport and Fort Worth Meacham International Airport, according to The Dallas Morning News.
Those stops were lifted and the FAA has not specified whether they were related to the same technical issue, the outlet reported.
The FAA has not specified whether those ground stops were related to the same technical issue, the outlet reported.
Dallas Love Field is home to the Southwest Airlines headquarters. The airline had no comment on the telecommunications issues on Friday.
DFW is the third busiest airport in the United States, with roughly 200,000 flyers passing through on around 1,900 daily flights at Dallas-Fort Worth, according to The Dallas Morning News.
Roughly 200,000 people pass through on around 1,900 daily flights at Dallas-Fort Worth, according to The Dallas Morning News.
The two popular Texas airports are about 15 miles away from each other. Dallas TRACON, which is experiencing the outages, is headquartered at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport.
Republican Sen. Ted Cruz assured his Texan constituents that he was on top of the problem.
“My team and I are aware of grounded flights at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) and Dallas Love Field (DAL),” Cruz wrote on X.
“We have been in touch with the FAA and airlines and are monitoring the situation and urge the flying public to remain patient as officials remedy the situation as soon as possible.”
Getting more air than planes on Friday in the Dallas area was a Guinness World Record-setting number of delivery drones orchestrated by Walmart and Bronx rapper Cardi B.
The superstore broke the record for “most deliveries by UAV drones in one hour” with a mark of 176, dropping off Cardi’s new album “Am I the Drama?” to open-armed Texans on Friday, according to the record-keeping group.
“My album has been literally flying off the shelves,” the “WAP” rapper said in a promo for the drone swarm.
The FAA could not be reached for comment about whether the huge surge in drone activity had a hand in the telecommunications issues on Friday.
Walmart’s drone operating service Wings did not respond to a request for comment.