Some runway lights go out; flights delayed
Herón Márquez Estrada, Star Tribune
Published September 25, 2003 MSP25
A wiring problem blacked out a bank of runway lights at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on Wednesday night, causing flights to be delayed about an hour.
The lights went out on one of the two parallel runways about 7:30 p.m. as the last group of flights was scheduled to arrive, said Patrick Hogan, the airport's director of public affairs.
As of about 11 p.m., electricians were still working to restore power to about half of the lights on the 8,000-foot north runway.
Hogan said inspectors went out to the runway and determined that the failure was not intentional.
Hogan said the same type of failure happened last year and lasted several hours.
"It's not that serious an issue, it's just a wiring problem," he said. "It's not uncommon."
Although Hogan had no specific numbers on flights delayed or diverted, he said the airport can handle about 60 landings per hour at its peak.
He said the most likely scenario is that flights would circle until they got clearance to land. If the planes were diverted about 100 miles east to Eau Claire, Wis., he said, the passengers would be bused to the Twin Cities.
Northwest Airlines spokesman Scott Tennant, whose company is the dominant carrier at the airport, said none of its flights were diverted. He said the delays were not major because the other runway was available.
"The impact was minimal," he said.
He said no one was available to tell him how many Northwest flights were scheduled to land after 7:30 p.m.
Herón Márquez Estrada, Star Tribune
Published September 25, 2003 MSP25
A wiring problem blacked out a bank of runway lights at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on Wednesday night, causing flights to be delayed about an hour.
The lights went out on one of the two parallel runways about 7:30 p.m. as the last group of flights was scheduled to arrive, said Patrick Hogan, the airport's director of public affairs.
As of about 11 p.m., electricians were still working to restore power to about half of the lights on the 8,000-foot north runway.
Hogan said inspectors went out to the runway and determined that the failure was not intentional.
Hogan said the same type of failure happened last year and lasted several hours.
"It's not that serious an issue, it's just a wiring problem," he said. "It's not uncommon."
Although Hogan had no specific numbers on flights delayed or diverted, he said the airport can handle about 60 landings per hour at its peak.
He said the most likely scenario is that flights would circle until they got clearance to land. If the planes were diverted about 100 miles east to Eau Claire, Wis., he said, the passengers would be bused to the Twin Cities.
Northwest Airlines spokesman Scott Tennant, whose company is the dominant carrier at the airport, said none of its flights were diverted. He said the delays were not major because the other runway was available.
"The impact was minimal," he said.
He said no one was available to tell him how many Northwest flights were scheduled to land after 7:30 p.m.
