FAA Ground Stop Delays Texas Football Team’s Flight to LSU

On November 13, the Texas football team boarded an American Airlines charter in Austin, but the flight did not take off during a nationwide FAA ground stop. The FAA said the stoppage was prompted by a communication issue affecting air traffic control. Aircraft already airborne were allowed to land, while new flights could not depart until the restriction was lifted.

The Longhorns later left the plane and headed back to DKR, the team’s stadium in Austin. No further travel plan had been announced. The ground stop’s duration was unclear.

Texas, ranked No. 6, is scheduled to play No. 21 LSU at 6:30 p.m. Central time on Saturday at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge. The drive from DKR to the stadium is about six and a half to seven hours, though traffic in the Houston area could affect the trip. A bus journey was discussed as a possible option, but the team had not said it would travel by road.

Alabama’s team was making an approximately four-hour bus trip to Nashville for its game against Vanderbilt. That provided another example of a team traveling by bus, but no announcement connected that trip to Texas’s plans.