WTNH News Channel 8 / News / 1999

	Lightning knocks out New England air traffic control, CT flights affected (Windsor Locks-WTNH) _ A nightmare for air travellers looking to take off for the holiday weekend. Passengers at Bradley International Airport and airports across the northeast were stuck on the ground because of a lightning strike at an air traffic control center in New Hampshire. The lightning, which hit about 3:30 Friday, knocked out part of the radar and as a precaution the FAA grounded almost all aircraft for several hours. Things are still not back to normal at Bradley. News Channel 8's Christina DeFranco reports. Marisa Kubicko: "The plane's not going to get here that I'm on until 9 and hopefully it will go out between 9:30 and 10:00." That's what kicked off many travellers holiday weekend. Radar problems caused by weather, grounding planes at Bradley for more than an hour. They were held up on the tarmac until the Federal Aviation Administration cleared them for take-off. Rick Marek, Farmington: "It's a bit of a zoo... traffic on the ground backed up 5 or 6 planes deep." As a result travellers in the ticket lines starting to panic about when their flight would take-off, and how they would notify relatives waiting in far-off cities about their delay. Mike Trahan, Bristol: "My parents were supposed to pick me up in Texas. Doubt I'll be there on time." For people picking up relatives it helped to have a good book to pass the time. The Rockoff's are waiting for their son and grandson flying in from Atlanta. They're working on a 2-hour delay. Alan Rockoff, Hinsdale, MA: "If they say 9 now who knows what to expect?" Denise Watrous, Guilford: "I'm expected to pick up my mom. She has an incoming flight but it's been delayed 2 hours so I'll be here for a few hours waiting for her." The concern of course is the ripple effect. Many of these delays at Bradley could turn into missed connections at other airports. Rick Marek: "Poor gal was sitting on the tarmac waiting to take off. Probably disrupted her schedule where she's going to miss her connecting flight in St. Louis." There were still some delays at Bradley at 11:00pm Friday night. The radar problem caused long delays in airports throughout the northeast. At Logan International in Boston planes just sat on runways for a time. Only small planes which could fly under 10,000 feet were permitted to take off during the delay. Today's News Page. WTNH Home Page. ©1999 WTNH/WTNH-DT A LIN station.

Lightning knocks out New England air traffic control, CT flights affected
(Windsor Locks-WTNH) _ A nightmare for air travellers looking to take off for the holiday weekend. Passengers at Bradley International Airport and airports across the northeast were stuck on the ground because of a lightning strike at an air traffic control center in New Hampshire. The lightning, which hit about 3:30 Friday, knocked out part of the radar and as a precaution the FAA grounded almost all aircraft for several hours. Things are still not back to normal at Bradley.
News Channel 8's Christina DeFranco reports.

Marisa Kubicko: "The plane's not going to get here that I'm on until 9 and hopefully it will go out between 9:30 and 10:00."

That's what kicked off many travellers holiday weekend. Radar problems caused by weather, grounding planes at Bradley for more than an hour. They were held up on the tarmac until the Federal Aviation Administration cleared them for take-off.

Rick Marek, Farmington: "It's a bit of a zoo... traffic on the ground backed up 5 or 6 planes deep."

As a result travellers in the ticket lines starting to panic about when their flight would take-off, and how they would notify relatives waiting in far-off cities about their delay.

Mike Trahan, Bristol: "My parents were supposed to pick me up in Texas. Doubt I'll be there on time."

For people picking up relatives it helped to have a good book to pass the time. The Rockoff's are waiting for their son and grandson flying in from Atlanta. They're working on a 2-hour delay.

Alan Rockoff, Hinsdale, MA: "If they say 9 now who knows what to expect?"

Denise Watrous, Guilford: "I'm expected to pick up my mom. She has an incoming flight but it's been delayed 2 hours so I'll be here for a few hours waiting for her."

The concern of course is the ripple effect. Many of these delays at Bradley could turn into missed connections at other airports.

Rick Marek: "Poor gal was sitting on the tarmac waiting to take off. Probably disrupted her schedule where she's going to miss her connecting flight in St. Louis."

There were still some delays at Bradley at 11:00pm Friday night.

The radar problem caused long delays in airports throughout the northeast. At Logan International in Boston planes just sat on runways for a time. Only small planes which could fly under 10,000 feet were permitted to take off during the delay.

Today's News Page.

WTNH Home Page.