For the week of January 2 - 8, 2002

Poor visibility forced numerous Hailey flight cancellations, diversions

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By TRAVIS PURSER
Express Staff Writer

Half of all commercial flights at the Hailey airport were canceled or diverted the day after Christmas, leaving passengers stranded and some taking buses to Twin Falls to catch flights there.

Airport management blamed the problem on poor visibility that made for extremely difficult landing conditions on one of the airport’s busiest days of the holiday season.

A check-in clerk for Horizon Air reported that the airline’s second, and last, flight of the day circled airborne "in a two-hour line of planes waiting to land." By the time the flight reached the ground and was ready to return to Seattle, bad weather prevented a takeoff.

SkyWest, the airport’s other commercial carrier, diverted one and canceled four of its scheduled 10 flights between Hailey and Salt Lake City, SkyWest, supervisor Tracy Vangelder said.

"I believe some of them were canceled due to air traffic control problems," she said.

Sun Valley Aviation, which provides services to private pilots, reported no problems getting planes into the airport on the busy day.

"It all flowed pretty good," said Mike Rosh, the company’s manager.

A landing that would take about five minutes in clear weather took from 10 to 15 minutes the day after Christmas due to poor visibility, airport manager Rick Baird said. That and increased air traffic led to a traffic jam in the sky.

Air traffic controllers use the same rules for private and commercial flights in determining when planes get to land, Baird said. No overt preference for commercial or private flights was given.

The Hailey airport’s control tower grants landing permission on a first-come, first-served basis, Baird said, because airspace and the rules that govern it are a public system.

However, airlines have different rules about how long they can wait to land before diverting to another airport, he said. Typically, private flights can wait longer in the air, so they less often have to divert.

Baird said that planes landing have priority over planes taking off. At one point during the day, departures were delayed 1.5 hours, he said.

"I like to accentuate the positive," he said, pointing out that 184 landings and takeoffs occurred Dec. 26. "So even though there were some delays, we were able to get some work done at the airport."

To help improve bad-weather navigation near Hailey, the airport plans to install a Transponder Landing System in the spring.

The system, which aids instrument landings, would help pilots land more easily when visibility is poor and should help prevent the kinds of problems pilots experiences Dec. 26, Baird said.

 

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