A brief full ground stop at all West Coast airports was ordered by the FAA on Monday after a suspected ballistic missile launch by North Korea, Newsweek is reporting.
Sabrina LoPiccolo, spokeswoman for the San Diego International Airport, told Newsweek that the airport was instructed of a ground stop at about 2:30 p.m. Pacific Time.
There was no reason was given for the stop, which lasted about five to seven minutes, she said.
“We really don’t have any more details,” she said.
And KCRA-TV reported flights were briefly grounded at Sacramento International Airport and San Francisco International Airport. An on-duty manager at San Francisco Airport said it was a nationwide issue.
According to Newsweek, an FAA ground stop is an order that directs flights scheduled to land at specific airports to stay at their departure point.
Ground stops ordered for an airport or region and can be due to weather, equipment outages, or extreme events.
The FAA did not disclose any other details on the ground stop and did not respond to a request for comment from Newsweek on Monday evening.
North Korea had launched what appeared to be a ballistic missile into its eastern sea, its second weapons launch in a week, the militaries of South Korea and Japan said, The Associated Press reported.
Japan’s Prime Minister’s Office and Defense Ministry said the North Korean weapon was possibly a ballistic missile.
The firing of the missile came after North Korea launched a ballistic missile into the sea six days earlier.
