Who Turned Out The Lights

JEP

Does It Really Matter....?
Staff member
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.
 
yea - but couldn't it become a problem if there was a plane in the process of landing when the lights went out?
 
Maybe Doug (or any other Professional Pilot ...sorry for the slight, none intended) could answer it, but wouldn't the plane have to go around? I don't know if they could land legally or not when there are no lights....
 
We can legally land without lights, but there are provisions to it. My manuals are the car, when I get them I can give you the info it says about it.
 
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We can legally land without lights, but there are provisions to it.

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Is "busting out the really big flashilights" one of 'em?
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Is "busting out the really big flashilights" one of 'em?

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HAHA, hey I have a 1 million candle wate spot light. LOL.
 
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HAHA, hey I have a 1 million candle wate spot light. LOL.

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Yeah...I'm from Mississippi...I have a 2 million candlepower cordless spotlight in my truck...you know how we do it
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