Jet aborts Santa Fe landing after airport wind gauge problem

SANTA FE, N.M. – An American Eagle jet flying from Dallas-Fort Worth aborted its landing in Santa Fe, New Mexico, because of the airport’s faulty wind-speed sensor, an airport official said.

After the cancelled Tuesday night landing, the flight returned to Texas, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported (http://bit.ly/2flRq09 ).

The 38 passengers finally reached their New Mexico destination on a Wednesday morning flight.

Airport Manager Cameron Humphres said the Tuesday flight had to abort because it’s against regulations for pilots to land without current wind data.

Air traffic controllers can supplement weather data to pilots, but airport tower workers had gone home for the night before the flight approached Santa Fe about 11 p.m.

It’s common for towers at small airports to close before all flights have arrived, Humphres said.

The cause of the gauge failure was not clear. The instrument is maintained by the National Weather Service, not the airport or city of Santa Fe, Humphres said.

When towers are unstaffed, pilots are reliant on the automated weather system data, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Lynn Lunsford said

A similar weather information failure caused a flight to be diverted from Santa Fe back to Dallas-Fort Worth in August 2016.

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Information from: The Santa Fe New Mexican, http://www.sfnewmexican.com