FAA's Nationwide Ground Stop Causes Cross-Country Chaos, Pilot Preaches Calm

The Federal Aviation Administration has ordered all flights on the ground in the United States to stay there ... issuing a nationwide ground stop due to a communication issue -- and it's leaving many Americans feeling confused and scared.

The federal agency issued the ground stop Friday afternoon ... stating in a press release that it made the decision "following communication issues impacting multiple Air Route Traffic Control Centers." Technicians for the FAA are investigating the issue.

Videos show the chaos and confusion all over the country ... including one plane at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport heading to Tampa, Florida, and hearing from their pilot, it could take up to 7 hours for the ground stop to be lifted.

Another person shared that all passengers' luggage was being removed from the plane ... even though they expected only a two-hour delay.

Denver Airport says the ground stop could last up to 6.5 hours.

All these different estimates tell us only one thing for sure ... no one knows when planes will get back in the air -- though one CNN pundit seemed to indicate it could take as many as 4 days for air traffic to get back to normal.

We sent a cameraperson over to LAX ... who spoke to a pilot about what exactly is going on. He says it's nothing to worry about -- things like this happen all the time, and there's no reason to panic yet. A passenger at LAX also seemed calm, though he admitted not much information had been shared with them before they disembarked their plane.