Billings Airfield Lights Out, Flight Returns to Seattle

BILLINGS – An Alaska Airlines flight from Seattle to Billings was unable to land early Sunday because of a power failure at Billings Logan International Airport.

The Billings Gazette reports the airplane returned to Seattle and its passengers were re-booked on flights over the next 24 hours.

Aviation and transit director Kevin Ploehn says a three-phase underground power line failed at about midnight Saturday. The airport’s emergency generators switched on, restoring power to the terminal and air traffic control tower.

However, the generator for the airfield lights overheated and stopped working. Power could not be restored to the airfield lights in time for the Alaska flight’s scheduled 12:40 a.m. landing. The pilot waited for 15 minutes before returning to Seattle. The flight takes about 2 hours.

NorthWestern Energy repaired the power line Sunday while airport officials investigated the generator failure.

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