A key part of the flying process is landing (and taking off, for that matter), and no one is going to be doing much of that when there are no lights on the runway, especially at night. Chicago’s Midway Airport had to shut down for almost four hours last night after a equipment failure on the part of the electric company resulted in the power being cut to the runway lights.

The airport closed down about 9:10 p.m. after a problem in an airfield lighting vault cut power to runway lights, officials said. Around 85 flights had to be canceled or diverted, said a spokeswoman for the Chicago Department of Aviation.  Power was restored to the runways at 1:19 a.m..

Those who were set to fly in or out of Midway this morning are advised to check with their airlines on the status of those flights. No terminals were affected, and airplanes were escorted back to the building to let passengers get off the planes.

Of course, the aftermath was all over the Internet, as everyone took to various social networks to complain about the wait and being stuck on the tarmac as the runway lights went out, says the Chicago Tribune.

A ComEd spokeswoman indicated it was a problem with equipment but had no other details.

Midway closed nearly 4 hours after outage cuts power to runway lights [Chicago Tribune]

 

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