Rock Festival in the Sky... In-Flight Live Show Makes Headlines Amid U.S. Flight Chaos

Famous Bands Including Hoobastank and Simple Plan on Board
Impromptu Concert on Charter Flight Makes Headlines After Videos Spread on Social Media
Singing Hit Songs at 35,000 Feet

As aircraft takeoffs across the United States were halted for more than four hours, an unexpected rock concert aboard a passenger plane bound for Orlando, Florida, made headlines. The flight happened to be carrying several well-known bands.

According to USA Today, Entertainment Weekly and other outlets on Nov. 14 (local time), Hoobastank, Simple Plan, The Used and singer LØLØ gave impromptu performances aboard a Southwest Airlines charter flight from Los Angeles to Orlando on Nov. 13.

Singer Roro performing an impromptu show onboard an aircraft. Screenshot from social media (SNS)

They were traveling to perform at the Vans Warped Tour in Orlando. About 125 people, including event staff and musicians, were reportedly aboard the flight.

The in-flight performances were possible because the plane took off just before the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) halted all aircraft takeoffs at airports nationwide. The FAA ordered a nationwide ground stop at 3:54 p.m. Eastern Time after a communications outage in the air traffic control system, but aircraft already in the air were allowed to continue to their destinations.

Hoobastank vocalist Doug Robb kicked off the performances in the air. He sang the band's hits "The Reason" and "Crawling in the Dark" while walking down the aisle. Passengers enjoyed the show, turning on their phone flashlights and singing along.

Simple Plan vocalist Pierre Bouvier also performed acoustic versions of the band's songs. The Used vocalist Bert McCracken and LØLØ followed with their own hit songs. The crew also brought the handset used for onboard announcements close to an amplifier so all passengers could hear the performances.

Hoobastank vocalist Doug Robb performing an impromptu show onboard the plane. Screenshot from social media.

Videos of the performances quickly spread on social media. LØLØ also shared footage from the flight on Instagram on Nov. 14. "Passengers using Wi-Fi at 35,000 feet found out about the nationwide ground stop, and everyone was pretty scared," she wrote. "But how could you be afraid when Pierre is singing?"

The FAA lifted the nationwide ground stop at 8:15 p.m. on Nov. 13. The incident, which lasted about four hours and 20 minutes, was reportedly caused by a communications outage in the air traffic control system. The U.S. Department of Transportation said routers in the communications equipment used by the air traffic control system had become overloaded, causing problems with communications and radar data.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.