NYC Power Outage Affecting Flights

[lomapaseo]

https://pix11.com/2018/12/27/new-yorkers-report-strange-light-over-the-city-power-outages/

No real word yet on whether there is complete stoppage of flights at LGA. Expect some of our members may be much closer to this

[lomapaseo]

update

Looks like it is over except for the knock on effect for delayed flights etc.

Power has since been restored to the airport, but inbound flights had been held at their outbound airports, according to WNBC (https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Blue-Light-Sky-Explosion-Queens-503589291.html?2BlWN4). KABC reported (https://abc7ny.com/transformer-explosion-at-con-ed-plant-lights-up-sky-in-nyc/4977959/) that a ground stop was issued by the FAA, but runways have since appeared to be back up and running.

“Due to a power failure at #LGA, please allow extra time when coming to the airport,” the facility said in a tweet (https://twitter.com/LGAairport/status/1078491365342797827).

The airport also said that travelers should check with individual carriers (https://twitter.com/LGAairport/status/1078494328446767105) about flight statuses.

“There was a brief electrical fire at our substation in Astoria which involved some electrical transformers and caused a transmission dip in the area,” Con Edison said in a tweet (https://twitter.com/ConEdison/status/1078495071413157889). “We’re currently investigating the cause of the incident.”

[KelvinD]

Was it related to this spectacular light show, caused by an explosion at a power station?:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-46697994

[nicolai]

"Yes", says the Guardian quoting NY Major Bill de Blasio: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/dec/28/new-york-sky-bright-blue-lights-explosion-astoria-power-plant-queens
The incident cause several streets to lose power and also caused a blackout at LaGuardia Airport.

The mayor of New York Bill de Blasio confirmed the extraordinary light was “caused by electrical surge at substation”, but said there were no current fire and no injuries. He said the MTA had power, but there were delays on the 7 train and that power was “coming back on” at LaGuardia, but travellers should expect delays.

[BluSdUp]

Nice video in The Guardian, one girl started talking about Aliens.
That blue light:
Quite possible as they ripped it into full revers!?
Looking for intelligent life?
They left disappointed, me thinks. ;)

[ShyTorque]

https://pix11.com/2018/12/27/new-yorkers-report-strange-light-over-the-city-power-outages/

No real word yet on whether there is complete stoppage of flights at LGA. Expect some of our members may be much closer to this

Clicking on that link brings up a message telling me that content isn't accessible in my area.
Is it something to do with a power outage?

[TelsBoy]

Does LGA not have a backup generator? Most airports I've worked at big and small have standby generators that kick in whenever the mains drops off, with vital stuff e.g. ATE equipment covered by UPS until the generator runs up.

[TWT]

From the link provided in post #1

Con Edison has been in contact with officials at LaGuardia Airport, which switched to backup generation at the time of the transmission disturbance

[TelsBoy]

Sorry, I couldn't view the link. I did see the story about the PS explosion however and immediately suspected there would be a connection.

I still find it unusual that there would be any disruption at all. Power switching is automatic (unless maintenance is being carried out) and should allow for continuity of ops normal. I wonder if something else happened, or if other issues outside the airport e.g. transport etc have caused the issues.

[LookingForAJob]

I still find it unusual that there would be any disruption at all. Power switching is automatic (unless maintenance is being carried out) and should allow for continuity of ops normal. So every electrically powered system at an airport has automatic power switching to some backup supply? Really......

[Yancey Slide]

So every electrically powered system at an airport has automatic power switching to some backup supply? Really......

All critical systems should be. Systems take line power normally, and if that disappears then there's a battery backed UPS system in place to float the load until the standby generators kick in and the transfer switches kick over. At least that's my experience in every mission-critical commercial environment I've worked at, I wouldn't see critical systems (ILS, radar, ATC etc) in an airport being set up any differently.

[OldLurker]

Yancey Slide: yes, ditto. Only, UPSs have a habit of being interruptible, and backup generators have a habit of not starting, unless they’re regularly exercised. Equipment that’s only used in emergency is really hard to keep on top availability.

A useful scheme is to have two mains power supplies, from different stations and networks, fed onto the site in different places. That last bit is important: at one site where I worked we thought we’d done everything right, only to find that the contractor had run the two supplies in the same conduit, a foot apart, so that inevitably it came to pass that some fool with a backhoe dug through both at once ..,

[finfly1]

Does LGA not have a backup generator? Most airports I've worked at big and small have standby generators that kick in whenever the mains drops off, with vital stuff e.g. ATE equipment covered by UPS until the generator runs up.

Certainly a fair question following the dramatic power outage in NY in Nov 1965, when all inbounds lost localizer, coms, and the entire visual horizon disappeared at once.

It happened again in 1977, but I do not know whether by then they had installed backup generators for critical systems.

If they STILL have not done, can sadly admit not really surprised.

[LookingForAJob]

Agree completely that critical systems will have backup/no-fail/UPS of some sort which, hopefully, should keep the system running for a nominal period of time. If designed properly, that period of time should be sufficient to enable all critical functions or operations to be completed and, if the main supply remains unavailable, for the service/operation to be withdrawn in a managed and safe manner. In this context, that means ILS, comms and AGL and the like should continue for long enough to enable all aircraft taking off or on an approach to land and taxy in or to be transferred safely to other agencies, for example. There will be other systems that will be considered equally essential for different reasons and should be similarly supplied with power from sources with a degree of redundancy and/or backup.

But passenger/freight handling, say, or catering - will these have backup supplies? Maybe yes, maybe no, it comes down to a business decision (as opposed to safety) and whether the benefits of confidence of continued operation is greater than the cost of providing those backups. In my (admittedly fairly limited experience) in such things, with the increasing complexity and interactivity of airport systems, even though one service provider might want to have lots of backups to keep their services going, in the case of major disruption the airport simply shuts down for a period at the behest of some high authority and so investment in lots of redundancy may actually have limited business value.