Monday, October 10, 2011

Spokane International Airport (KGEG), Washington: Instrument Landing System Offline. (With Video)


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SPOKANE, Wash. -- Officials at Spokane International Airport are hoping deteriorating weather conditions that come with the season hold off as one of the airport's most important navigation systems is out of service for the rest of the week.

The Instrument Landing System at SIA can safely guide planes to the ground even when the visibility drops below one quarter mile, but as the airport wraps up a summer filled with runway improvements, the ILS is still a week away from being ready.

Five years ago the FAA gave Spokane International some bad news, saying the end of it's north / east runway sat in a depression, which kept pilots from having a line of sight view from one end to the other.

"At any point in the runway a pilot needs to be able to see halfway down the runway and the line of sight dropped off to the extent that we needed to raise it six feet," SIA spokesman Todd Woodard said.

The airport also had to raise the surrounding taxiways and even the equipment that guide planes to the ground.

That meant shutting down and temporarily removing the ILS, which didn't play too much of a factor during the summer as pilots didn't really need it to land safely. Now as the weather starts changing the ILS is needed to help guide pilots in to the airport.

"The air carriers using Spokane are still using the primary east / west runway and the navigational system they have on that is limited to an RNAV GPS approach, which has far higher minimum standards than the instrument landing system," Woodard said.

Last Thursday, the lack of an instrument landing system led to delays and cancellations after low clouds blanketed the area.

Now airport officials are hoping the weather will hold as they bring the ILS back into service.

"The system has to run continuously for 500 hours and we are still part of that required commissioning burn in period dictated by the FAA to make sure the system is fully functional and won't fail at a critical juncture and time," Woodard said.

That 500-hour warm up for the ILSs should expire sometime this weekend and the equipment will be re-certified. Until then, low clouds or fog could make flying in or out of Spokane more difficult. 

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