A STUDENT PILOT flying solo cross-country for the first time was forced to make an emergency landing at an airfield in Texas during the nationwide ground stop on Friday evening.

In a recording obtained by CNN, the controller can be heard asking the man where he wants to land.

“There is a ground stop nationwide. I advise that you land your aircraft. Where would you like to land?”

The pilot responds, with panic in his voice: “Ma’am, I’m a student pilot. Honestly, this is my first time doing solo cross-country, and I don’t know what to do.”

Student pilot gets caught in the air mid-outage 😬😬 https://t.co/teLabecQ3h

— ATC (@theATCapp) November 13, 2026

The pilot can be heard telling the controller that he came from Hicks Airfield. The controller advises him to land back at Hicks, warning of “multiple traffic in the vicinity”, including two helicopters.

The pilot then asks, “So am I clear to land at Hicks then?” adding, “but there’s nothing wrong with the airport itself, it’s just nationwide?”

The flights landed safely a few minutes later, according to Flight Aware.

A nationwide ground stop was issued on Friday evening following a communications issue, leading to major disruption and over 6,000 flights cancelled.

At 1.15am Irish time, US airspace was reopened, but disruptions to flights due to the knock-on effect remain, with authorities saying the return to normal operations will take time.