A solo student pilot asked a Texas air traffic controller where to land during a nationwide Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ground stop, as a communications outage left most U.S. departures halted.
The recording obtained by CNN captures an exchange with a controller at Fort Worth Meacham International Airport. The pilot said it was his first solo cross-country flight and that he did not know what to do.
He said he had left Hicks Airfield. The controller advised him to return to the same runway and noted that several aircraft, including two helicopters, were nearby. The controller said he could not clear a landing at Hicks but confirmed the airfield itself was not affected.
FlightAware showed the aircraft landed at Hicks several minutes later.
NDTV reported that the FAA imposed the nationwide stop after a communications outage. It took effect shortly before 4 p.m. ET and was lifted at 8:15 p.m. ET; most departures were held on the ground for more than four hours.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said at a news conference that airport capacity and staffing would affect the pace of flight schedule recovery, which could extend through the weekend, NDTV reported.
