Weather clearance upgrade awaits approval at Sonoma County airport

The $55 million upgrade to the Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport this year included a long-sought improvement to allow aircraft to land when fog hangs only a few hundred feet off the ground.

But while the airport makeover - including longer runways - wrapped up two months ago, approval of the new instruments allowing pilots to ?land under a lower cloud ?ceiling remains in a holding pattern.

Federal regulators may not sign off on the new equipment until April, according to Jon Stout, the airport manager.

As a result, a couple of commercial flights per month on average are getting canceled or diverted, Stout said.

The diverted flights included an Alaska Airlines plane ?that took off in Los Angeles Sunday night and was supposed ?to land at Sonoma County but had to fly back after encountering low fog on its runway approach.

“It happens this time of year,” Stout said. “It’s a bad time for the fog.”

Once the Federal Aviation Administration signs off on the new landing instruments, planes will be able to land when clouds are 200 feet above the ground. Current regulations allow for landings with a 500-foot cloud ceiling, Stout said.

When Sunday evening’s flight from Los Angeles took off, the skies were clear above Sonoma County. But fog with a ceiling of 400 feet developed while the plane was en route. The flight circled the airport before turning back, said Halley Knigge, a spokeswoman for Alaska Airlines.

“It was a surprise change in the weather,” she said. “Our crews will only land when it’s absolutely safe to do so.”

The flight with 60 passengers landed in Los Angeles, and Alaska Airlines found those on board other flights to Bay Area airports on Monday, Knigge said.

Alaska’s 6:30 a.m. Monday flight from Sonoma County to Los Angeles was canceled because the plane had not arrived the night before.

Michael Kelly of Santa Rosa went to the airport Sunday night to pick up ?his daughter, who was supposed to fly in from Los Angeles for the ?holidays. He said the sky was clear with a little ?fog to the west of the runway, and he could see the Alaska plane as it approached.

“They made an announcement that the flight was being diverted to Los Angeles,” he said. “They said they couldn’t land because of the weather. I said ‘What do you mean? It’s clear as a bell.’ It’s like, come on guys, you’re trying to be this regional airport and you can’t land even when it’s clear?”

Kelly said his daughter flew into Oakland on Monday on a Delta Airlines flight.

“It was frustrating,” he said. “But it is good to get her home.”

You can reach Staff Writer Matt Brown at 521-5206 or matt.brown?@pressdemocrat.com.