LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The FAA has yet to determine the cause of its system outage.
The agency said a system went down that notified pilots about closed runways, equipment outages, and possible hazards on a flight route.
The FAA said the problem was fixed early Wednesday morning, but the delay already impacted more than 300 flights at Harry Reid International Airport, including John Stambaugh’s flight.
“We were about half an hour, 45 minutes out of Atlanta and the pilot came on and said we have to divert to Knoxville, Tennessee and we sat on the tarmac there for about an hour and a half,” Stambaugh said.
He said it was a smooth flight to Las Vegas after finally taking off from Atlanta.
“It was an inconvenience but I’m not disappointed,” Stambaugh added. “I’m happy I’m in Las Vegas to meet my friends and it’s onward and upward.”
Lisa Pender also arrived from Atlanta and said she wasn’t going to let this slight delay ruin her fun.
“This trip has been 3 years in the making and we finally just made it,” explained Pender. “Last time it was COVID and this time I was like FAA outage, really?”
After hearing about the outage, Pender contacted her sister Amanda Harris-Harrod.
“She calls and I’m like aye caramba! So I get to the airport and they pushed me back and they pushed me back again,” Harris-Harrod said.
She finally flew into Las Vegas via Southwest after an hour delay in San Diego.
“We didn’t think we were going to make it so we’re super grateful that we did, the flights stayed even if we were late we got here and now we’ll enjoy ourselves and have fun and food and entertainment!” explained Harris-Harrod. “We’re here from today until Monday so that’s like a real adult vacation for us, so we’re like yesss, wahoo!”