As aircraft from the military, Civil Air Patrol and Coast Guard Auxiliary, not to mention dozens of media helicopters, flocked to disaster scenes in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi, the FAA had some disasters of its own to cope with. Katrina did serious damage to numerous FAA installations, leaving controllers with little to work with, and, in some cases, nowhere to work from. “In Gulfport all the navaids were destroyed and the tower is uninhabitable. There was damage to other towers, as well,” FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown told AVweb Wednesday. Three major TFRs have been established over New Orleans, the Mississippi and Alabama coasts and in many areas affected by the storm, operations are limited to rescue and relief aircraft for day VFR only. Three major airports were open for public use: Baton Rouge, Lafayette and Lake Charles. Brown said Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans was down to a single runway (01/19) with day VFR operations only and is only being used by relief aircraft. The other runway was flooded. New Orleans Lakefront is flooded and closed. A major radar site was knocked out, wiping out radar coverage below 10,000 feet. Communications sites were also wrecked and there is a limited number of radio frequencies available. Military controllers are helping the FAA maintain separation but, for many aircraft, it’s see and be seen. “Portions of the Houston Center area are VFR only,” Brown said.
…Crippled Resources Struggle To Regain Footing…
Key Takeaways:
- Hurricane Katrina inflicted widespread severe damage on FAA installations across Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi, destroying navaids, rendering control towers uninhabitable, and knocking out a major radar site (losing coverage below 10,000 feet) and communication facilities.
- This infrastructure damage severely limited air traffic operations, resulting in major airports like New Orleans Armstrong being restricted to day VFR relief flights only, while New Orleans Lakefront was flooded and closed.
- Consequently, extensive Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs) were established, and air traffic control in affected areas relied on military controllers and "see and be seen" procedures due to limited radio frequencies and radar capabilities.
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