Ground stop at Washington National (DCA), Oct 11, 2026

EndedLow ceilings halt departures to Washington National for 31 minutes

Started: Sun, Oct 11, 2:19 PM EDT18:19 UTC
Ended: Sun, Oct 11, 2:50 PM EDT18:50 UTC
Duration: 31 min
Cause: low ceilings

Check your flight

Enter your flight number to see its EDCT, the ground stop or delay program at its destination, and its status.

What happened

AI-written · may contain mistakes. Written from the advisory text and weather only.

Cause: Low clouds, about 600 feet up, along with rain and mist, made conditions unsafe for takeoffs, so departures were held.

The ground stop at Washington National began at 18:19 UTC, and its reason was changed to low ceilings two minutes later. It ended at 18:50 UTC after 31 minutes and was not extended.

Impact by airline

Aircraft seen on the ground at DCA and holding nearby, by airline.

Airline	On ground	Holding
PSA Airlines OH	8	—
American Airlines AA	3	—
Delta Air Lines DL	2	—
Envoy Air MQ	2	—
Republic Airways YX	2	—
Southwest Airlines WN	2	—
Endeavor Air 9E	1	—
JetBlue B6	1	—
United Airlines UA	1	—

Impact by region

Air traffic control centers whose departures to the airport were held.

Center	Status
Boston Center (ZBW)	Held
Washington Center (ZDC)	Held
Indianapolis Center (ZID)	Held
Jacksonville Center (ZJX)	Held
New York Center (ZNY)	Held
Cleveland Center (ZOB)	Held
Atlanta Center (ZTL)	Held

Aircraft at the airport

Peak 24 on the ground, 0 holding nearby.

On the ground Holding nearby

Timeline

Every change published while the ground stop was in effect, as seen each minute.

Oct 11, 2:19 PM EDT
Ground stop issued at DCA for low, until 3:15 pm EDT. Departures held from ZTL, ZDC, ZNY, ZJX and 3 more.
Oct 11, 2:21 PM EDT
Reason changed to low ceilings.
Oct 11, 2:50 PM EDT
Ground stop ended after 31 min.

Advisories

The air traffic control advisories issued for this ground stop, as published.

ATCSCC ADVZY 088 DCA/ZDC 10/11/2026 CDM GROUND STOP

CTL ELEMENT: DCA
ELEMENT TYPE: APT
ADL TIME: 1817Z
GROUND STOP PERIOD: 11/1807Z - 11/1915Z
DEP FACILITIES INCLUDED: (1stTier) ZTL ZDC ZNY ZJX ZOB ZBW ZID
PREVIOUS TOTAL, MAXIMUM, AVERAGE DELAYS: 0 / 0 / 0
NEW TOTAL, MAXIMUM, AVERAGE DELAYS: 297 / 39 / 21
PROBABILITY OF EXTENSION: MEDIUM
IMPACTING CONDITION: WEATHER / LOW CEILINGS
COMMENTS:

Original advisory ↗

How it is measured

Status, timeline, cause and held centers: the national airspace status feed, checked every minute, and the air traffic control advisories it links to.
Delays by airline and region: departures and arrivals at DCA 30 or more minutes late, by their estimated delay against the schedule, sampled every 10 minutes while the stop is active and once more after it ends.
Totals and cancellations: arrival and departure boards for DCA, every 30 minutes while active and once more after the end. Delayed means 15 or more minutes late at DCA; cancelled is the airline's cancelled status; codeshares count once. Flights scheduled from the start until an hour after the end are counted.
Held at origin: the same arrivals boards, which carry each flight's scheduled and actual departure from its origin. A flight is held when it is still scheduled, not departed, 15 or more minutes past its scheduled departure at a sample taken during the stop. In scope: its origin is in a held center or listed facility; flights from elsewhere are late for other reasons.
Inbound in the air: the same arrivals boards. At each board taken during the stop, a flight to DCA is in the air when it has departed (en route, or with an actual departure time) and not landed, cancelled or diverted; one still shown in the air over an hour past its arrival estimate, or departed more than 18 hours earlier, is treated as stale and left out.
Diversions: an inbound flight marked diverted during the stop or the wrap-up after it (not one marked before it could have departed), or one still shown in the air 30+ minutes past its arrival estimate that ADS-B (by its ICAO call sign) then found on the ground at another airport, not its origin. The diversion airport is the airport ADS-B found it at, else the updated destination. Cancellations never count. Regional flights flown under another call sign can't be found on ADS-B, so their diversion airport may be unknown.
Aircraft on the ground and holding: ADS-B positions around DCA, every 5 minutes; the airline is read from the call sign. Holding counts airline flights only (passenger, regional and cargo), not private, military or medical flights.
Weather: METARs, SIGMETs and weather alerts.
News: headline links filtered to this airport and these days; we show titles and links only.

Data sources are listed on the credits page.