Human error forces flights to Wilmington to turn back

Wilmington, NC (StarNewsOnline.com) — Human error forced two flights set to land at the Wilmington International Airport late Wednesday to instead return to their departing airports.

 

Airport operations director Gary Broughton said a repaving project involving one of the airport's two runways occasionally prompts the closure of both runways – and effectively the airport – late at night when work is taking place where the runways cross.

 

Wednesday night was one of those nights. "The airport's guidance system was supposed to go off at 12:15 a.m., but they turned them off at 11:15 p.m., Broughton said of the Federal Aviation Administration. "It was just one of those things. It was a freak accident.