Alberto's rain, equipment problem ground 10 flights

Delta Air Lines canceled 10 flights into and out of Southwest Florida International Airport on Monday because of weather and instrumentation issues.

The airline grounded flights flying into and out of Atlanta and Cincinnati airports because the planes did not have proper navigational systems to land in bad weather, said Delta spokesman Anthony Black. Rain from Tropical Storm Alberto, which is expected to hit Florida sometime today, got an early start, falling in Southwest Florida on Monday.

The lack of equipment became a problem because the Federal Aviation Administration shut down the airport's ground-based navigational device on June 5 to perform routine maintenance, said airport spokeswoman Laska Ryan.

The system helps planes determine another route when they have to abort a landing, she said.

"Weather has everything to do with it," Black said. "On a day when you don't have visuals, you need to have the ability to correct coordinates and make an approach in case you have to abort a landing. It comes down to, this is a safety issue for passengers."

Other airlines and flights were not affected because they have backup equipment on board, Black said.

Delta responded by replacing the aircraft with planes that have the backup equipment, he said.

The airline rebooked passengers whose flights were canceled.

"Everybody impacted will be accommodated on another flight," Black said.

The FAA is working to develop an alternative system the airport can use while it completes maintenance on the navigation device, Ryan said.

A spokesperson for the FAA could not be reached for comment.

The very high frequency omni-range receiver, or VOR, helps navigate planes when they have a missed approach or an aborted landing.

Aircraft can still operate without the VOR if they are equipped with navigational systems that operate independent of the airport's system.

Black said Delta will replace its existing aircraft with planes equipped with the independent navigational systems.

"Going forward from here, regardless of what happens with this airport system, we will have adequate aircraft to operate a normal schedule," Black said.