Fog Disrupts Airline Travel in Southland

A layer of thick fog over California’s coastline Thursday hampered operations at John Wayne Airport, Los Angeles International Airport and several others, forcing thousands of holiday travelers to be rerouted, delayed or grounded.

Airport and airline officials were expecting the persistent fog to cause more problems again this morning. The National Weather Service predicted partial clearing of the fog Friday afternoon and evening.

The thick soup also curtailed airline operations Thursday morning at San Diego’s Lindbergh Field and at airports in San Jose, Reno and Eureka. Weather conditions at Seattle, Sacramento and Medford, Ore., airports were described as “marginal” by a spokesman for a major carrier.

Pedestrian Killed

Fog also obscured Southland streets, causing the death of an Anaheim man who was killed while crossing a city street at 4:47 a.m. Thursday. Seong Wook Byun, 28, was dead at the scene after a car struck him as heavy fog nearly obscured Gilbert Street in Anaheim, police said. The driver of the car was not cited, according to a California Highway Patrol spokesman.

At John Wayne Airport, commercial airline departures and arrivals were delayed three hours by fog that reduced visibility to less than one-eighth of a mile. Airliners usually begin departing and arriving at John Wayne at 7 a.m., but none left until 10:01 a.m., and the first incoming plane arrived 15 minutes later.

County airport operations supervisor Curtis Porter said the terminal was “wall-to-wall people” who were waiting to leave or to meet incoming passengers. Porter also said that AirCal ferried an empty plane, which had been scheduled to leave at 7 a.m., from John Wayne to Ontario. Passengers holding tickets on the flight were then bused from Orange County to Ontario to board their scheduled flight.

At John Wayne, the skies cleared in the afternoon, but the fog returned at about 9 p.m. Thursday. Carol Brown, of administration operations, said bad weather around the country would force late arrivals of four scheduled flights Thursday, beyond the airport’s normal 10.45 p.m. curfew. If the fog is heavy again on Friday morning, she said, the same procedures used Thursday for rerouting and transportation of passengers would be used.

Ralph Odenwald, tower chief at John Wayne, said that there were several non-commercial departures before 10 a.m. but that at least one in-bound airliner flew a holding pattern over the ocean and waited for the fog to clear. According to several airlines, planes headed for Orange County on short-haul flights were held at their departure points rather than diverted to other airports.

Airliners bound for Los Angeles and San Diego, however, were being detoured to Ontario International and Las Vegas after visibility at Los Angeles International dropped to virtually zero between 3:45 a.m. to 6:45 a.m., officials said. The planes refueled, then flew to Los Angeles once that airport opened, but passengers on one Western flight were bused on to San Diego.

Terminals Filled

Airport terminals filled with people awaiting delayed arrivals and departures. In some cases they learned that the flights had been canceled. “Instead of people getting on planes and getting away, the terminal just fills and fills, “ said Ken Shipp, superintendent of operations at Los Angeles International.

PSA, one of the largest regional carriers with an average of 25,000 passengers per day, was forced to cancel several flights, said Bill Hastings, a company spokesman. Several other flights were diverted into airports that managed to evade the fog.

Western Airlines diverted two Hawaii-to-Los Angeles flights to Las Vegas, and one Hawaii-to-San Diego flight to Ontario, said spokeswoman Linda Dozier. The Los Angeles-bound travelers were placed on a later flight and the San Diego-bound were given a long bus ride from Ontario.

Ron Kochevar, assistant airport manager for Ontario International, said that United and other major carriers were preparing Thursday night to bus passengers from Ontario to Los Angeles.

Odenwald and Shipp said that while airports make the visibility readings, it is up to airlines to determine whether or not to land--a decision that will vary greatly depending on the particular aircraft, its navigational equipment and the proficiency of its crew.

Decisions involving departures rest mostly with the carrier.