The fires also affected terminal facilities on Sunday, as Los Angeles International Airport officials opted to hold all takeoffs for about half an hour and then only resume departures on a limited basis. Early Sunday evening, FAA controllers at LAX were handling about half the normal hourly arrival rate of 70 aircraft. The reduction in the number of arriving flights was causing delays or cancellations in outbound flights. According to The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires, once takeoffs resumed, aircraft were assigned rather unusual procedures, where they were climbing to an altitude of 5,000 feet or more over Santa Monica Bay VFR with apparently no radar coverage. At that point the Mojave facility would initiate radar service. By late afternoon the average delay was down to just over three hours, but the longest delays had grown to more than 16 hours. To increase its operational capability, controllers from the TRACON went to work at the LAX tower.
…LAX Becomes A Parking Lot…
Key Takeaways:
- Fires severely disrupted operations at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on Sunday, causing all takeoffs to be held initially and then resuming with limited departures and a significantly reduced arrival rate.
- The operational challenges led to extensive flight delays, averaging over three hours and reaching more than 16 hours for some flights, as well as cancellations.
- To manage the situation, LAX implemented unusual VFR climb procedures for departing aircraft with limited radar coverage and brought in controllers from the TRACON facility to work at the LAX tower.
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