Former pilot explains separation risk behind US flight halt

Sky News pairs Emma Henderson's safety analysis with a Heathrow assessment finding limited disruption at UK airports.

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Sky News Story of November 15, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? One of Sky News's most watched videos since yesterday, with 101,211 views.

Flights resume across the US after nationwide ground stop

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Press to jump

0:46Mullin says officials have so far found no cyberattack and rejects a connection to Microsoft.
1:47Duffy attributes the failure to older routers and switches becoming overloaded with data.
4:27Passengers at Los Angeles International Airport describe delays, cancellations and disrupted itineraries.
5:34Graham Stothard reports limited UK airport disruption from Heathrow and reviews airline responses.
8:22Emma Henderson examines communications-loss safety protocols; her warning about aircraft separation comes at 10:13.

Losing contact between air traffic controllers and flight crews creates a problem beyond missed messages: keeping aircraft safely apart. Former easyJet captain Emma Henderson puts that concern at the centre of her analysis in Sky News's report on the nationwide US ground stop.

"That means that separation becomes a risk," she says during an interview examining communications failures and the logistics of restarting operations. Her contribution adds a pilot's perspective to coverage dominated by stranded passengers and officials' explanations.

The report follows flights beginning to move again, but not an immediate return to normal. At Los Angeles International Airport, travellers describe cancelled journeys and delays. Reporting from Heathrow, Sky correspondent Graham Stothard assesses a more limited impact on UK airports and reviews airlines' responses and international flight advice.

At the White House briefing, Transport Secretary Sean Duffy attributes the failure to overloaded older equipment: "Our switches, our routers, actually got overloaded with data." Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin says there is no connection to Microsoft and that officials have so far found no cyberattack.

Sky's broadcast moves from those official assurances to Henderson's explanation of why communications matter to aircraft separation, and why restoring the link is only part of getting operations moving again.

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