By Scott Shephard
Flightaware Screen Capture - November 13, 2026 7:47 PM
The image you see here is a screenshot of an app I have called Flightradar. This was around 8 PM last night, after thousands of flights had been grounded due to a "communications glitch." This is not what the skies over the US normally look like. And the planes you see here are generally arriving from foreign points of origin. Most US domestic planes had landed and joined thousands of other grounded aircraft.
Is anyone to blame? Has anyone taken responsibility? No. But I'm guessing it's only a matter of time before Joe Biden becomes the culprit. Or Barrack Obama. But the current administration has told us repeatedly that the United States, under its current leadership, is doing "better than it ever has in the history of our country." Really??!!
Yesterday, Sean Duffy (former reality TV Star, lawyer, Congressman, Fox Business celebrity and current head of the Department of Transportation) said the system is outdated and it needs more money. Please, Congress, more money! Duffy, incidentally, has zero experience in all matters of transportation.
Markwayne Mullin (former Congressman, 2020 election denier, owner of a plumbing business that employed 250 people, and now head of the Department of Homeland Security, which employs 270,000) said that this isn't a "9-11 incident" and that we should relax. Mullin has zero experience in law enforcement, by the way.
Right now I'm not in an airport wondering how I'm going to get home today so I can relax. A little. (My wife and I are flying to Seattle tomorrow.) But I am concerned that we have telegenic amateurs running 2 extremely important agencies.
Also, consider this: Over the last two years, federal funding for the Department of Transportation (which includes the FAA) has increased $2 billion. Over the same time, the budget for Homeland Security has increased $261 billion. Some of this money has gone to building The Wall but much of it has gone to hiring and arming tens of thousands of willing folks who are wearing masks and perhaps right now in your community rounding up people who look a little suspicious. And foreign.
I understand that all of this is highly nuanced and complicated. And I understand that border security is an important concern.
But don't believe it when anyone in this administration says that the safety of our skies has a high priority. And for sure, don't blame Biden. He had only 4 years to fix the outdated FAA system. Trump has had 6.
Here’s what the skies looked like at 5:00 AM this morning