Airplane can’t land as runway lights dark
It was literally lights out at the Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport late Thursday night.
A mistake at the airport control tower caused the runway lights to stay dark as an inbound flight from Atlanta neared Lovell Field, prompting the Delta pilot to have to turn around and fly back to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
According to one passenger’s social media post, the pilot came on the plane’s intercom and quipped that “‘It looks like everyone decided to close early and go home. No one is answering the phone.”’
The plane, after refueling in Atlanta and with the runway lights in Chattanooga turned back on, finally landed at Lovell Field just before 2 a.m. Friday, according to officials.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Jim Peters said the control tower, prior to closing at 11:50 p.m., turned off the runway lighting system instead of switching to the pilot control function. That enables flight crews to turn on the runway lights before landing.
Peters said that once the pilot control function was restored, Delta flight 4757 took off from Atlanta and landed safely in Chattanooga at 1:49 a.m.
Chattanooga Airport spokesman Albert Waterhouse said the FAA oversees and manages the lighting system at the airport and there was “an internal miscommunication within that agency” on Thursday night.
He said airport officials have had a discussion with the agency’s management and are satisfied the mistake won’t happen again.
“We regret any inconvenience for our passengers, and although delayed, we are glad they were able to land in Chattanooga later in the evening,” he said.
According to the FlightAware website, Delta 4757 took off from Atlanta on Thursday night at 11:35 p.m and was slated to touch down in Chattanooga about a half hour later early Friday morning.
But the plane turned around, landed in Atlanta, refueled and then departed again from Atlanta at 1:17 a.m. for Chattanooga, landing before 2 a.m.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress. com or 423-757-6318. Follow him on Twitter @MikePareTFP.