Flights were temporarily grounded at major US airports on the West Coast earlier this week following a North Korean missile test.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it ordered the departures pause as a matter of precaution, according to CNN.
“Full operations resumed in less than 15 minutes. The FAA regularly takes precautionary measures. We are reviewing the process around this ground stop as we do after all such events,” the FAA said.
The order reportedly affected major airports from Seattle to San Diego and from Las Vegas to Honolulu.
No major delays were reported, however, air traffic control obtained by CBS News revealed the incident caused confusion among pilots and air traffic controllers.
“Is it a security-related issue, or do we know anything?” one pilot in San Diego said.
“I honestly have been given no information at this time,” an air traffic controller responded.
“I’ve just been given information that we are in a ground stop.”
Within minutes of being alerted of what North Korea claimed was a hypersonic missile test, North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) determined it was not a threat to the US.
The Middlebury Institute’s Jeffrey Lewis told CBS the missile in question didn’t have the range necessary to reach the US.
“It frankly couldn’t even reach Japan,” Lewis said.
Featured image: San Diego International Airport (iStock/EXTREME-PHOTOGRAPHER)
