Cut cable delays LAX landings
Flights into Los Angeles International Airport were delayed for several hours Tuesday afternoon and evening after a contractor working on the southernmost runway sliced through an electrical cable.
The accident, which occurred about 2:20 p.m., cut power to several series of lights that pilots use to orient aircraft for takeoff and landing on a second runway on the airport’s south side. Delays ranged from about 30 to 60 minutes.
The power interruption forced officials to shut down that runway about 5 p.m. and transfer all operations to two runways on LAX’s north side, reducing the number of aircraft that could arrive per hour from 72 to 36, said Paul Haney, an airport spokesman. That curtailment continued until about 6 p.m., but authorities said it would take at least a few hours more for the airlines to catch up with their normal schedules.
Starting about 4:30 p.m., planes were held on the ground in cities throughout the country so controllers could ensure that too many flights weren’t headed to LAX at once, said Ian Gregor, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration.
Sylmar-based Tutor-Saliba Corp. started moving the southernmost runway in July to improve safety.
Tuesday’s outage was the latest in an eventful year at the airport. A string of air traffic control glitches repeatedly disrupted air service last summer.
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