Says Agency Hasn't Reinstalled ILS

Recent weather woes were not confined to the Denver, CO area and London's Heathrow Airport. Officials at Indiana's Gary/Chicago International Airport (KGYY) say they've been feeling the ill effects of lousy weather, as well... but they say the FAA is to blame.

At issue is the airport's Instrument Landing System... or, to be more specific, the lack of it. The Gary Post Tribune says the airport does have an ILS... but it hasn't been usable for nearly three weeks, as officials wait for the FAA to reinstall it properly.

With dense fog hitting the Chicago area last week, that caused a problem.. forcing many flights into Gary to divert to nearby South Bend and Valparaiso. That includes domestic flights from Phoenix and Orlando... as well as Boeing executive planes flying in from Europe.

Even Indiana governor Mitch Daniels felt the effects, after he was forced to cancel a trip to East Chicago Thursday because his plane couldn't land in Gary.

"Our lifeline is the precision approach ... and we've been without it for 20 days," said Gary Jet Center owner Will Davis. "The economic disruption has been tremendous. It's total FAA. It's been a disaster."

The weather has since cleared, allowing normal flights to resume. But Davis says as soon as the weather turns for the worse, KGYY will once again be out of business.

"We're not getting straight answers," said Davis. "This is an unacceptable situation. I hope someone in Washington gets to know what's happening here."

FAA spokesman Tony Molinaro says the agency needs to complete a flight check of the new system, and calibration is taking longer than expected.

KGYY director Chris Curry notes the airport has called the FAA for help in speeding up that process... but many technicians are on vacation this week.

FMI: www.garychicagoairport.com/