Document text
Fog fouls up another day Photo by Jim Craven John Casebeer, a sales executive for Federal Express, scans packages as they head for planes at Rogue Valley International-Medford Airport. Federal Express planes Tuesday made it out of the airport before fog began to delay and cancel flights. Runway work adds to misery for travelers, air shippers By CHRIS BRISTOL The combination of fog and runway construction is continuing to wreak holiday havoc at Rogue Valley International-Medford Airport, with no relief on the horizon. In a repeat of Monday's misery, a majority of passenger flights were cancelled or delayed Tuesday. Hundreds of stranded travelers had to be shuttled by bus to and from Eugene and Klamath Falls, where fog is not a factor, and many never got off the ground in Los Angeles and Seattle. "We're getting real good at busing," quipped Dee Nelson, manager of Horizon Air's Medford operations. "We move a lot of people at this time of year, but `Fogford' has really put a crimp in it." The main culprit is a high pressure system that has camped out over Medford and won't let the fog lift off the valley floor. Supposedly it was sunny in places like Ruch and Prospect, and temperatures soared to 72 degrees on the coast at Brookings. "The old fog is here to stay for a couple days," warned Larry Jacobs, a hydrometeorologist at the airport's National Weather Service station. He added, "This is typical for the time of year." But what is not typical are non-weather conditions at the airport, where work on a $14 million runway extension project forced the temporary removal of fog-busting approach lights. "Apparently nobody thought about what would happen when the weather gets bad," said John Philip, senior manager of Medford's Federal Express facility. "Maybe they did, or maybe they didn't care. I don't know." Without lights, the airport needs a cloud ceiling of 200 feet and a mile of visibility for flights to land. The lights -- known as ALS, short for Approach Landing System -- cut visibility minimums in half. Horizon Air had to cancel all but two of its 11 flights. United Airlines and its short-hop United Shuttle had to cancel six of 13 flights. Federal Express and UPS, in the last stages of the Christmas rush, shipped out -- just before the fog started to thicken at dusk. "This is the time of year when it gets foggy," groused a Federal Express pilot, who declined to give his name. "Bottom line: It was a bad time to tear the approach lights out." Philip Herron, general manager of United's Medford operation, said the fog was not bad enough to force cancellations if the old approach lights were still in place. "The cancellations we've taken today and yesterday are cancellations we shouldn't have taken," he complained. Nelson agreed -- to a point. The fog has been even worse in the past, she noted, and the new system includes state-of-the-art runway lighting designed to handle all but the worst pea soup. "It's development, it's growth, and sometimes you bite the bullet," she said. "We're paying for it this year, but wait until next year." Airport manager Bern Case said there was no way around the timing of the extension costruction: It's a two-year project, which meant the ALS system had to be forced offline at least one winter. Fog used to shut down the airport about 12 days a year no matter what, he said. With the new lighting, it won't happen as often. "We've been praying for less fog this year," he said, "but there's absolutely no way to extend a runway and make it safer and better without one season of it being down." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA