Ground stop at Houston Hobby (HOU), Nov 5, 2026

EndedAircraft emergency halts Houston Hobby departures for 17 minutes

Started: Thu, Nov 5, 1:40 PM CST19:40 UTC
Ended: Thu, Nov 5, 1:57 PM CST19:57 UTC
Duration: 17 min
Cause: aircraft emergency

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What happened

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

Cause: An aircraft emergency led air traffic control to pause departures from Houston Hobby, while the weather nearby was calm with good visibility.

The ground stop began at 19:40 UTC on November 5, 2026, holding departures from two air traffic control centers. It was lifted at 19:57 UTC, after 17 minutes, earlier than the 20:30 UTC end time first announced, and it was not extended.

Impact by airline

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

Airline numbers appear after the first sample, within about 20 minutes of the start.

Impact by region

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

Center	Status
Fort Worth Center (ZFW)	Held
Houston Center (ZHU)	Held

Timeline

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

Nov 5, 1:40 PM CST
Ground stop issued at HOU for aircraft emergency, until 2:30 pm CST. Departures held from ZHU, ZFW.
Nov 5, 1:57 PM CST
Ground stop ended after 17 min.

Advisories

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

ATCSCC ADVZY 041 HOU/ZHU 11/05/2026 CDM GROUND STOP

CTL ELEMENT: HOU
ELEMENT TYPE: APT
ADL TIME: 1938Z
GROUND STOP PERIOD: 05/1928Z - 05/2030Z
DEP FACILITIES INCLUDED: (Manual) ZHU ZFW
PREVIOUS TOTAL, MAXIMUM, AVERAGE DELAYS: 0 / 0 / 0
NEW TOTAL, MAXIMUM, AVERAGE DELAYS: 332 / 47 / 30
PROBABILITY OF EXTENSION: MEDIUM
IMPACTING CONDITION: OTHER / EMERGENCY
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 HOU 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 HOU, every 30 minutes while active and once more after the end. Delayed means 15 or more minutes late at HOU; 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 HOU 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 HOU, 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.