A massive Microsoft outage Thursday has disrupted personal communications, businesses, government agencies, and communications systems across the globe. Then, on Friday, the FAA ordered all departing flights at US airports to be grounded.
Is there a connection between the two? There are still plenty of questions, but here is what is known right now.
How the Outages Unfolded
Thursday, November 12: Microsoft began reporting problems with its Exchange Online email services shortly before 1 pm EST. The disruption spread, affecting Outlook, Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, Copilot, and other Microsoft 365 services.
Microsoft initially identified server availability problems. It elevated infrastructure loads and began restarting affected servers and redirecting traffic to restore service.
Friday morning, November 13: Microsoft reported progress restoring services, although some users continued experiencing connectivity problems and delayed emails.
The disruption was attributed to a technical issue involving an earlier network capacity upgrade and a subsequent network change. Microsoft said it found no indication of malicious cyber activity.
Friday afternoon: The FAA issued a nationwide ground stop, ordering departing aircraft to remain on the ground until further notice.
The FAA cited "extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety."
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed that a communications problem was affecting all 22 regional air traffic control centers responsible for managing aircraft traveling between airports.
FAA technicians began investigating the disruption.
FAA More Likely Compromised by Rollout of AI Technology?
It is understandable why someone might make the connection between Microsoft and the FAA given the overlapping timelines and the Microsoft disruption had already affected airline communications.
However, disrupted airline email services are not the same as failures within the FAA's air traffic control network.
There is also another technology unrelated to Microsoft that may be the issue. The FAA has rushed expansion of a new AI tool, SMART, to "assist in managing air traffic across the entire national airspace system.”
Gizmodo reported Thursday:
"The concern here appears to be that the Trump administration, which has a slipshod record on air safety and has repeatedly taken heat over delays caused by air traffic control personnel issues, is rushing an insufficiently tested system into widespread use."
The FAA has not identified specifically what has caused the communications problems. According to the Associated Press, the last time this happened was in January 2023 following a malfunction in a critical FAA computer system.
For now, the obvious questions remain a mystery. What caused the FAA's communications failure? Was it an isolated infrastructure problem? Was it AI? Or, was it connected to the broader technology disruptions that began Thursday?
Until investigators provide more information, any connection remains unconfirmed.