The head of the FAA said he would give the order, but would leave some room for pilot discretion. “F*** PILOT DISCRETION. GET THOSE G**D*** PLANES ON THE GROUND!” Norm shouted at him.[16] All told, 4,546 civilian aircraft were grounded, a feat that took more than 2.5 hours. Many pilots weren’t even told what was going on, just that there was a security incident. Pilots who did know largely didn’t tell their passengers.[17]
