Empty air traffic tower and technical glitch forces aborted landing
An American Airlines flight just minutes from touching down at Santa Fe was forced to turn around and return to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
The reason? Santa Fe’s control tower had closed for the night and gone home, but that was only part of the problem.
That left a plane full of passengers frustrated and stranded overnight in DFW.
The pilot made a sudden U-turn even though flights can land safely even when the tower is unmanned.
The Federal Aviation Administration says that is common.
"Pilots communicate with one another on the airport’s dedicated radio frequency. All pilots learn how to do this as part of their initial flight training. The majority of smaller airports around the US do not have towers," said FAA spokesperson Lynn Lunsford.
The reason the jet, which was operated by American regional partner ExpressJet, not could not land on this occasion was because the National Weather Service wind sensor at the airport had technical problems and could not pass on accurate wind speed data to the cockpit, airport manager Cameron Humphres told KRQE News 13.
This is required by law, the airline said.
"This particular system isn’t owned, managed, operated, maintained by the airport or city of Santa Fe. It’s really unfortunate for the passengers; I feel for them," Humphres added.
That could have been remedied if the air traffic tower was still open, as it has access to a secondary system to read wind speed data.
"Most of the time, it’s a pretty well-oiled machine and it doesn’t need any supplementation or intervention, but last night was the exception," Todd Shoemake, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Albuquerque told the Santa Fe New Mexican.
"People were annoyed," passenger Leighann Gagnon told the news station, adding that the airline offered no assistance to stranded flyers at DFW.
The carrier said as it was not at fault for the mishap, it is not obligated to hand out free food or overnight accommodations.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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