Hope nobody was affected! A private jet’s landing gear collapsed while it was taxiing for takeoff. No injuries, but the runway had minor damage. The one runway. Total ground stop until midnight, and this airport is supposed to end takeoffs after 11:30 pm due to noise ordinances.
Some incoming flights were returned to their airport of origin. Others have been diverted to LAX, ONT, LAS, SLC, and more. I think the first two airports were attempting to bus people on to San Diego.
As a side note, there was a warehouse fire nearby sending up billowing smoke at almost the exact same time so for a short while, people thought there might have been a crash.
Reddit was hopping with discussion of what happened. Some good pictures of the private plane blocking the runway. Glad no one was hurt! But yikes ! An incident like that caused a lot of air traffic backups!
News says “The FAA had at one point advised the closure would extend through midnight, but the airport was back open to air traffic by 10 p.m.” Flightaware does show seven arrivals after 11:00 pm with three more on the way, and a few departures - including FedEx, UPS, and Hawaiian Air.
Wow, it just shows that a lot of congestion can pile up if just one runway get clogged for whatever reason. So glad there was no one hurt by all of this, even though it does sound like a lot of trouble and hassles for a lot of people.
SAN is apparently the busiest single runway airport in the US. Unlike multi-runway airports, where a runway closure means delays, a runway closure at a single runway airport means closure of the entire airport.
And then yesterday morning, the early fog caused quite a few more delays. They started the day landing from the ocean, then had to switch it around. We can see all departing flights go by, so it’s always disconcerting to see approaches instead. Also quieter!
Not to mention needing to get all the planes and crew to the right airports!
They’re just lucky it didn’t happen a few days from now - the new Terminal 1 opens on the 23rd. And some later evening flights on the 22nd will disembark there. So anyone picking up has to be clear which Terminal 1 to go to!
! An incident like that caused a lot of air traffic backups!