Definition
An air traffic control measure that halts all departures, or a specific subset of departures, bound for a particular destination airport or through a particular airspace. It is issued when arrival demand exceeds the system's ability to safely handle traffic, typically due to weather, equipment outages, runway closures, or staffing shortages at the receiving facility.
Plain English
ATC tells certain flights heading to a specific airport that they cannot take off until the order is lifted. The aircraft stays on the ground where it is.
Context Anchor
Pilots encounter this term during departure delays, flight planning, and air traffic control communications before takeoff.
Derivation
The phrase is literal: the aircraft is stopped while it is still on the ground. That matters because a ground stop is meant to keep airplanes from launching into a problem area, rather than making them wait in the air.
Why Pilots Care
Keeps aircraft on the ground rather than allowing departures that would require airborne holding or force diversions.
Intuition Check
Do not read ground stop as simply “stopping the airplane with the brakes.” In aviation traffic control, it means flights are being held from taking off because of a larger traffic or safety limit.
Example Sentence 1
Dispatch advised the crew that a ground stop was in effect for all arrivals into Newark, so the flight would push back from the gate one hour later than scheduled.
Example Sentence 2
The crew monitored the status board until the ground stop was lifted and departures resumed.