Ground stop at Raleigh-Durham (RDU), Oct 12, 2026

EndedEquipment outage halts Raleigh-Durham departures for 1 hour 26 minutes

Started: Mon, Oct 12, 5:28 PM EDT21:28 UTC
Ended: Mon, Oct 12, 6:54 PM EDT22:54 UTC
Duration: 1 hr 26 min
Cause: equipment outage; Extended 1 time

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What happened

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

Cause: Departures were held because of an equipment outage, a technical failure, not bad weather; skies were clear and visibility was good that evening.

The ground stop began at 21:28 UTC on October 12, 2026, and was extended in a later update to 7:00 pm EDT. Repair tests on the affected equipment were starting at that point. The stop ended at 22:54 UTC, after 1 hour 26 minutes.

Impact by airline

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

Airline	On ground	Holding
Southwest Airlines WN	1	—
UPS Airlines 5X	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 3 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 12, 5:28 PM EDT
Ground stop issued at RDU for equipment, until 6:30 pm EDT.
Oct 12, 5:29 PM EDT
Chance of extension now low.
Oct 12, 5:29 PM EDT
Departures held from ZTL, ZDC, ZNY, ZJX and 3 more.
Oct 12, 5:30 PM EDT
Reason changed to equipment outage.
Oct 12, 6:25 PM EDT
Reason changed to equipment.
Oct 12, 6:25 PM EDT
Extended until 7:00 pm EDT.
Oct 12, 6:26 PM EDT
Reason changed to equipment outage.
Oct 12, 6:26 PM EDT
Chance of extension now medium.
Oct 12, 6:26 PM EDT
New advisory issued.
Read the advisory ↗
Oct 12, 6:54 PM EDT
Ground stop ended after 1 hr 26 min.

Advisories

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

ATCSCC ADVZY 100 RDU/ZDC 10/12/2026 CDM GROUND STOP

CTL ELEMENT: RDU
ELEMENT TYPE: APT
ADL TIME: 2221Z
GROUND STOP PERIOD: 12/2103Z - 12/2300Z
CUMULATIVE PROGRAM PERIOD: 12/1615Z - 12/2259Z
DEP FACILITIES INCLUDED: (1stTier) ZTL ZDC ZNY ZJX ZOB ZBW ZID
PREVIOUS TOTAL, MAXIMUM, AVERAGE DELAYS: 3998 / 445 / 114
NEW TOTAL, MAXIMUM, AVERAGE DELAYS: 4970 / 475 / 142
PROBABILITY OF EXTENSION: MEDIUM
IMPACTING CONDITION: EQUIPMENT / OUTAGE
COMMENTS: TESTS ARE BEGINNING ON LINE REPAIRS. STOP EXTENDED 30
 MINUTES.

Original advisory ↗

ATCSCC ADVZY 091 RDU/ZDC 10/12/2026 CDM GROUND STOP

CTL ELEMENT: RDU
ELEMENT TYPE: APT
ADL TIME: 2123Z
GROUND STOP PERIOD: 12/2103Z - 12/2230Z
CUMULATIVE PROGRAM PERIOD: 12/1615Z - 12/2259Z
DEP FACILITIES INCLUDED: (1stTier) ZTL ZDC ZNY ZJX ZOB ZBW ZID
PREVIOUS TOTAL, MAXIMUM, AVERAGE DELAYS: 3824 / 356 / 109
NEW TOTAL, MAXIMUM, AVERAGE DELAYS: 5152 / 445 / 147
PROBABILITY OF EXTENSION: LOW
IMPACTING CONDITION: EQUIPMENT / OUTAGE
COMMENTS: REPAIRS TAKING LONGER THAN EXPECTED, EXIT INTO GDP REVISION
 PROBABLE

Original advisory ↗

Where flights were held

Departures to RDU were held from 7 centers (1stTier).

Chance of extension: MEDIUM

Weather at the time

METAR, weather alerts and SIGMETs at the airport during the stop.

When it started

VFR

METAR KRDU 122051Z 33008KT 10SM FEW046 FEW250 28/16 A2994 RMK AO2 SLP135 T02780156 55003 $ · observed Oct 12, 4:51 PM EDT

Latest during the stop

VFR

METAR KRDU 122151Z 36004KT 10SM FEW046 FEW250 27/16 A2994 RMK T02720161 · observed Oct 12, 5:51 PM EDT

In the news

Headlines that mention this airport and the disruption. Links open the publisher.

Flight disruptions cause more than 200 delays at RDU: 'It's a mess'
ABC11 News · Oct 12, 6:26 PM EDT
Raleigh-Durham airport sees brief flight delays after contractor cuts FAA tower fiber-optic line
WXII · Oct 12, 12:04 PM EDT
RDU flights briefly grounded after contractor cuts fiber-optic line
WRAL · Oct 12, 11:57 AM EDT

Raleigh-Durham (RDU) live status →Every ground stop at RDU →Replay Oct 12, 2026 on the map →Read the full advisory ↗What is a ground stop? →

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 RDU 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 RDU, every 30 minutes while active and once more after the end. Delayed means 15 or more minutes late at RDU; 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 RDU 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 RDU, 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.