putt for dough
17th Aug 2006, 20:42
Airport black-out: Flights OK
17/08/2006 21:28 - (SA)
Black-out at Jhb airport
Johannesburg - Johannesburg International Airport was hit by a power failure on Thursday night when a fault in a transformer blacked out Kempton Park.
"We are obviously still trying to establish what had happened. It looks like it's the whole airport," Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) spokesperson Solomon Makgale said.
According to the Acsa website log of flights, incoming flights all landed and most outgoing flights left on schedule.
A staffer at Exclusive Books in the airport's international departures section said at 21:00 that the power was back on again, but had been going on and off. The bookshop closed when power went off.
He said the main power cut lasted about an hour but there was no panic. Passengers continued to board aircraft.
"It's okay now, the lights are on. Things are back to normal... Everyone is okay, there's no complaints."
A spokesperson at the Ekurhuleni Metro electricity call centre, Andre Pretorius, said that a fault in an electricity transformer had resulted in a black-out across the Kempton Park area.
He said power was out in the Kempton Park CBD and suburbs and in Terenure, Birchleigh, Van Riebeeck Park, Birch Acres, Spartan, Bonaero Park, Aston Manor and Brentwood Park.
These were all linked to the same transformer.
Pretorius said electricians were working on the faulty part.
"They're going to replace that and that will take three to four hours... Hopefully power will be back at 12 [midnight]."
He said the problem could have been caused by a number of factors and had not yet been established.
"It wasn't sabotage. It was probably overloading."
Pretorius said power was also out in the Whitfield and Brakpan areas due to other problems. The Whitfield problem he described as an isolated case.
"Telkom was working on the underground lines and by accident they hooked one of our power cables."
The Brakpan problem was due to a cable theft, which he said was a common problem. "It happens virtually every night," he said.
17/08/2006 21:28 - (SA)
Black-out at Jhb airport
Johannesburg - Johannesburg International Airport was hit by a power failure on Thursday night when a fault in a transformer blacked out Kempton Park.
"We are obviously still trying to establish what had happened. It looks like it's the whole airport," Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) spokesperson Solomon Makgale said.
According to the Acsa website log of flights, incoming flights all landed and most outgoing flights left on schedule.
A staffer at Exclusive Books in the airport's international departures section said at 21:00 that the power was back on again, but had been going on and off. The bookshop closed when power went off.
He said the main power cut lasted about an hour but there was no panic. Passengers continued to board aircraft.
"It's okay now, the lights are on. Things are back to normal... Everyone is okay, there's no complaints."
A spokesperson at the Ekurhuleni Metro electricity call centre, Andre Pretorius, said that a fault in an electricity transformer had resulted in a black-out across the Kempton Park area.
He said power was out in the Kempton Park CBD and suburbs and in Terenure, Birchleigh, Van Riebeeck Park, Birch Acres, Spartan, Bonaero Park, Aston Manor and Brentwood Park.
These were all linked to the same transformer.
Pretorius said electricians were working on the faulty part.
"They're going to replace that and that will take three to four hours... Hopefully power will be back at 12 [midnight]."
He said the problem could have been caused by a number of factors and had not yet been established.
"It wasn't sabotage. It was probably overloading."
Pretorius said power was also out in the Whitfield and Brakpan areas due to other problems. The Whitfield problem he described as an isolated case.
"Telkom was working on the underground lines and by accident they hooked one of our power cables."
The Brakpan problem was due to a cable theft, which he said was a common problem. "It happens virtually every night," he said.