Scope and Sequence of Groundings Revisited
As the National Airspace System (NAS) has reopened in phases, so have the Department of Transportation (DOT) and FAA clarified in increments the sequence o

As the National Airspace System (NAS) has reopened in phases, so have the Department of Transportation (DOT) and FAA clarified in increments the sequence of grounding actions made in the earliest minutes. FAA reports have narrowed but not eliminated the gap between its official timeline of decisions on September 11, versus third-party reports and observed actions directly from the field.

The FAA recently modified comments partially due to an article in AIN’s October issue (“Shutdown of National Airspace System Was ‘Organized Mayhem,’” page 4). In that report AIN described the historic precedents for grounding of civil aircraft and cited the plan for Security Control of Air Traffic and Air Navigation Aids (SCATANA), the 1971 FAA-Norad guide to diverting nonmilitary aircraft in times of defense emergency.

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