FAA Lifts Nationwide Ground Stop; South Carolina Women’s Basketball Still Set to Host USC Sunday in Greenville
The Federal Aviation Administration announced Friday afternoon that all U.S. flights were grounded because of communication problems with an unknown cause. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters that the ground stop was lifted Friday evening.
Mullin said technological upgrades overwhelmed the existing system and caused the outage. At a press conference, he said “the public was never in danger” during the grounding. Duffy said in a social media post that every Air Route Traffic Control Center was affected. According to The New York Times, Mullin said the problems would likely not be fixed immediately.
Impact on South Carolina Teams
The USC women’s basketball team had been grounded in Los Angeles under the FAA order, according to a post on X, and promised updates. The team later confirmed it would stay in Los Angeles Friday evening and fly to Greenville Saturday morning. The grounding no longer threatens the Gamecocks’ home game against the Trojans.
The football team left Columbia Friday morning for its Saturday game against the Arkansas Razorbacks in Fayetteville, Arkansas. On3 confirmed in a social media post that the Gamecocks landed before the stoppage began, so they were unaffected.
The Southeastern Conference said on social media that it knew the grounding could affect team travel. “We are in close communication with our member institutions to assess potential disruptions and coordinate appropriate responses,” the statement read. “The safety and well-being of student-athletes, coaches, and team personnel remain our highest priority.”
The New York Times reports that the FAA is bringing a new AI model into its system. It is not clear whether that model is connected to the upgrades that caused the grounding.
How to Watch: South Carolina vs. USC Women’s Basketball
- Date: Sunday, Nov. 15
- Tip-off: 1 p.m. (per the original report)
- Location: Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, S.C.
- TV channel: Not confirmed. Check ESPN.com, the SEC schedule or the teams’ sites before tip-off.
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