FAA ground stop sends UW football back to campus before Michigan State game
UW athletics teams in travel limbo after nationwide ground stop
UW’s football, men’s basketball, men’s and women’s cross country, and men’s soccer teams were all facing separate travel obstacles ahead of Saturday’s games because of a sudden nationwide FAA ground stop.
SEATTLE - University of Washington football players are back on campus Friday afternoon after having previously departed for Boeing Field, scheduled to travel by air to East Lansing, Mich., in preparation for Saturday's game against Michigan State University.
What we know:
The team was scheduled to depart Friday afternoon. A nationwide ground stop, issued by the Federal Aviation Administration that same day, put a damper on the team's plans.
FOX 13 reporters captured footage of the team unloading from buses on campus following the announcement by FAA Director Sean Duffy.
What we don't know:
College football, Saturday sports in limbo
Neither NCAA nor UW officials have commented publicly on future plans for college athletics scheduled to commence on Saturday.
The Associated Press reported that No. 2 Utah, No. 8 Texas and No. 9 Tennessee were also impacted by the sudden ground stop.
Local perspective:
All flights in and out of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport were impacted. The airport posted on X that they will provide updates as soon as information becomes available.
FAA ground stop under investigation
Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin says there is no indication yet that the telecommunications outage was caused by a cyberattack.
Mullin also said they are investigating whether the FAA's new artificial intelligence system that was recently rolled out had anything to do with the issues.
There is still no timeline for when the nationwide ground stop will be lifted.
The Source: Information in this article comes from the FOX 13 Seattle news team, as well as national reports from the Associated Press.
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