FAA's Friday the 13th False Flag Grounding Fails to Impress Americans Too Poor to Fly
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Aviation Administration grounded every commercial flight in the United States on Friday, November 13th, in what officials described as a routine technical emergency and what at least one former FBI agent described as a textbook false flag operation aimed at Iran.
The grounding began at 3:45 p.m. Eastern and lasted until shortly after 8 p.m., making it the longest nationwide flight shutdown in American history. Airports ran out of gates and taxiways. Flight tracking data shows more than 8,000 flights within, into, and out of the country were canceled and roughly 8,000 more were delayed. At the low point of the crisis, only 336 aircraft were airborne, less than 10% of a normal Friday.
Most of the country did not notice.
“I haven’t been able to afford to fly since the first time we won the Iran war,” said Darren Holt, a warehouse supervisor in Ohio who heard about the ground stop on the radio while driving home. “They canceled a bunch of flights nobody I know was on. I assumed it was just the usual price thing.”
Airline fares have climbed sharply this year. Domestic tickets for the upcoming holidays are averaging several hundred dollars round-trip, up more than 20% from a year earlier, according to industry tracking. Jet fuel prices nearly doubled after disruptions tied to the earlier conflict with Iran. Carriers passed the costs along, and low-cost options narrowed.
At a gas station outside Atlanta, clerk Maria Chen said she only learned of the stoppage when a customer mentioned it.
“My sister was supposed to visit last month, but the fare was over $600 each way,” Chen said. “She drove instead. If they grounded the planes to make us mad at Iran, they should have checked whether anybody still buys tickets.”
Officials had hoped the images of packed terminals and delayed departures would dominate the evening news and focus attention overseas. Instead, the coverage largely cycled through the same handful of airports while most viewers remained at work or at home.
One traveler who did reach an airport reported that the people around him spent more time complaining about the cost of the tickets they had already bought than about any foreign threat.
“They kept saying it was for safety and extraordinary circumstances,” said Luis Ramirez, who works second shift at a distribution center and has not flown since before the fuel spike. “I figured if it was important they’d make the tickets cheaper so more of us could care. They didn’t.”
By the time flights began moving again late in the evening, the intended reaction had not materialized. Social media mentions of Iran stayed flat. Searches for “ground stop” briefly rose, then dropped as people returned to checking gas prices and grocery totals.
A White House aide, who asked not to be named, said the operation was designed to create a shared sense of vulnerability.
The aide noted that the plan had not accounted for the number of Americans who already treat air travel as something only wealthy people do.
Do you know somebody who has been personally injured by satire and comedy? Show your support for the principles of free speech and stand with Freedom Writers by signing our petition today!
Comments