TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Technical Problem In Jacksonville Delays Flights Throughout Region

ADVERTISEMENT

By MICHAEL SASSO, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 9, 2007

Flights scheduled to travel through Jacksonville airspace were delayed this afternoon as air traffic controllers lost communication with some aircraft pilots.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, communications were lost because a Bell South technician in the Jacksonville area worked on the wrong communications line about 12:35 p.m. Friday. That adversely affected some FAA radar, frequencies, and land phone lines.

A spokesman for the controllers union, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, said air traffic controllers were unable to communicate with some airplanes passing through Jacksonville airspace.

Also, air traffic controllers in nearby regions were not notified of planes coming into their airspace, said Doug Church, spokesman for the NATCA.

Communications were restored by 1:48 p.m.

Brenda Geoghagan, public information officer for Tampa International Airport, said some flights coming into Tampa from the Northeast may have been delayed, because they fly through Jacksonville's airspace. However, there appeared to be few or no delays for planes departing from Tampa attributable to the communications problem.

The Jacksonville Center is the nation's seventh-busiest en route air traffic center, NATCA said.

It handles airspace extending west to the Florida-Alabama border, south to Orlando, north to southern Georgia, and northeast to the North Carolina-South Carolina border, and out into the Atlantic Ocean. It handles major north-south air routes for traffic coming to and from Florida and the Northeastern United States, NATCA said.

Reporter Michael Sasso can be reached at msasso@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT