Stephen King jokes about mass flight cancellations in the US

Writer's satirical reaction to aviation events

US mainstream author Stephen King used his account on the X platform to comment on the critical situation in the transport sector. The writer presented the events in the form of a humorous sketch, attributing the cause of the malfunction to external factors. According to him, representatives of other civilisations have already arrived on Earth, while government agencies are keeping this information quiet to avoid provoking global panic.

In a post dated 13 November, King formulated his version as follows: "Aliens have landed. This is the real reason for the flight stoppage. They don't want to cause global panic. They are blind, but have an extremely acute hearing." The writer added that he deliberately made the last sentence coarser in style.

Technical causes of the flight stoppage

This joke appeared against the backdrop of real problems faced by US aviation infrastructure. On 13 November, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) introduced a temporary ban on departures from all airports in the country. The main cause was malfunctions in communication and radar systems used by air traffic controllers to manage airspace. This decision was made for safety reasons.

Flights arriving in the US from abroad were handled on an individual basis.

Timeline of traffic restoration

US Transport Secretary Sean Duffy clarified the details of the incident. According to his data, unstable operation of radars and communication equipment began at 15:36 Eastern Time. At the time of the malfunction, more than 3,500 aircraft were in the air. Controllers immediately activated standard safety protocols, after which planes began to land sequentially.

The nationwide flight restriction was lifted at 20:15 Eastern Time. Thus, the complete suspension of air traffic lasted over four hours.