West Coast Flights Mysteriously Grounded Over North Korean Missile

A highly unusual order from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to ground all flights in the Western United States coincided with a new missile weapon test by the anti-American Communist regime in North Korea.

Link to North Korea’s Missile Launch Seems Too Obvious

The FAA’s ground order remains shrouded in mystery; the North Korean ballistic missile test was technically not judged to be in any way a threat to the mainland of the United States.

Monday’s occurrence seems to be the first case in which the dictatorship of Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang may have disrupted air traffic in America.

North Korea carried out yet another ballistic missile test at about 7:27 am on Tuesday, local time, which was 5:27 pm Eastern Time on Monday. The missile was fired inland in North Korea and traveled about 400 miles east before falling into the sea.

A report by CNN does cite an unnamed “US official” as confirming the “unusual ground stop” order was sent to some piles. This happened after the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) issued an alert, due to the North Korean missile firing.

However, the official in question noted the mysterious FAA order wasn’t a “national ground stop”, and therefore may have come from “a regional” facility for air traffic control.

The report also cites the chief spokesperson of NORAD, Captain Pamela Kunze, as stating the NORAD headquarters issued “no warning” over the matter in question.

Just a ‘Matter of Precaution,’ but Against What?

The Federal Aviation Administration issued a statement that still didn’t dispel the mystery surrounding its highly atypical ground stop order.

The FAA only made it clear the grounding order was issued to some piles “as a matter of precaution” and it was meant “to err” on safety’s side.

According to the NORAD spokeswoman, Kunze, the North Korean missile firing was detected and quickly judged not to pose any threats to the continental US.

The report points out since the FAA typically has a liaison at the operations center of NORAD, the administration must have been aware the North Korean missile firing wasn’t assessed to be a threat to its flights.

A San Diego International Airport spokesperson was quoted as saying the airport was first informed of a “national ground stop,” but five to seven minutes later was told the order got lifted.

The mystery is reinforced by the fact that US Forces Korea, the American troops based in South Korea, put out a statement.

This statement declared new missile-firing didn’t present any danger to the territory, the military of the United States, or its ally, South Korea.

However, Pyongyang’s new ballistic missile launch “highlights the destabilizing impact” of the “illicit weapons program” of the North Korean regime.

Monday’s ground stop order for West Coast flights remains surrounded by enigmas.

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