By Brittany Pieper - bio | email
LUBBOCK, TX (KCBD) - Airlines canceled flights across the country Thursday due to winter weather, but in Lubbock the broken Instrument Landing System magnified that problem. Since last Tuesday travelers trying to get in and out of Lubbock have had to deal with cancellations and delays due to the broken ILS, which is an instrument many planes need to land in bad weather.
Airlines canceled almost every flight in and out of the Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport Thursday morning, but later in the day more flights were able to take off and land. Airlines say the reason for Thursday's cancellations and delays is both the weather across the country and the broken ILS.
Many travelers now must foot the bill of a rental car, a hotel room, or both. "Every indication from the airlines are saying that even later, flights are going to be canceled. It doesn't make sense to even try, so I'm just going to get a hotel room and spend the night," said David Breslaver whose flight to Phoenix was canceled.
"The weather's bad. The ILS is down. It's very frustrating, but it's somewhat understandable. At least the weather is. Now the ILS, they need to get that fixed. How long has it been down? a week now?," said Mike McGlone.
The Federal Aviation Administration owns and maintains the ILS equipment. They believe some sort of radio interference is causing the problems. They continue to work to fix it, but have not said when they will have it up and running again.
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