Things went dark on the runways of the Des Moines International airport last night around 8:30. Airport operations manager, Andrew Wall, says they were able to figure out the problem.
“About a week ago we had a lightening strike here at the airport –which is not uncommon for lightening to strike the airfield — and it damaged some of the wire that connects those runway lights, and over time it just wore out, and it failed last night,” Wall says.
He says the runway lights were out for about three hours, and the lack of lights did not become a safety concern. “No, I wouldn’t say it was more dangerous. The planes need those lights to land and so if there were any aircraft in the landing phase of flight, they would have gone around and diverted to another airport,” Wall explains. He says it did slow down some flights.
as at least half a dozen flights were delayed or canceled and they were playing catch up today.
Wall says it is rare for the equipment to go down. “This is fairly unusual, fairly unusual I’d say. It doesn’t happen that often at all,” Wall says. Wall says travelers can check the airport website today to see if their flights are on time.