Fog diverts Amsterdam-to-Seattle flight to Moses Lake

283 passengers secured in GCIA terminal during delay

MOSES LAKE — Heavy fog in Seattle resulted in the cancellation of three flights Tuesday from Grant County International Airport , but the Moses Lake site was still bustling.

A Northwest Air flight from Amsterdam had been scheduled to land at Sea-Tac at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, but heavy fog above the Seattle airport forced the pilot to circle until fuel ran low and the DC-10-30 had to be diverted to GCIA.

"A diverted flight is fairly common, especially during the winter time," Port of Moses Lake manager Craig Baldwin said, adding that it's usually for only a couple of hours to refuel and then depart again. But in this instance, he explained, "you can only fly so many hours before you can't fly again without rest, and the crew was to their max time."

The nine crew members and 274 passengers on the flight arrived in Moses Lake about 3 p.m., and were deplaned into the terminal about 7 p.m., Baldwin said, after it was determined that another crew had to be brought in from Minneapolis to fly the plane.

"When they decided to send a crew out from Minneapolis, they chartered a Lear jet to take them out," Baldwin said. "(It) got a flat tire on take-off, so that delayed the new crew from coming out from Minneapolis."

Baldwin said it was about 2 a.m. Wednesday when the new crew arrived. The plane departed from GCIA about 5 a.m. and arrived at Sea-Tac at 6:30 a.m.

Since embarking on their 10-hour nonstop flight from Amsterdam, passengers had already been on the plane for roughly 12 hours by the time it arrived in Moses Lake.

Baldwin said passengers could not leave the airport because they had not cleared immigrations and customs, so the terminal had to be secured. GCIA has only one customs officer who is there to clear cargo that comes in and out of Moses Lake on a regular basis, and is not capable of clearing 283 people, Baldwin said.

"I thought for the most part they were very cooperative, very understanding," he said of passengers' moods. "They were able to come off the plane and we were able to feed them, kind of wait it out."

The airport ordered pizza and chicken for the passengers, and Dana's at the Port provided sandwiches and drinks, he said, also crediting and complimenting staff from Air America, PSA, Big Sky Airlines, customs, the Grant County Sheriff's Department, Domino's Pizza and Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Larry Peterson, president of the Port of Moses Lake Board of Commissioners, said that everything that came in to the terminal had to be X-rayed, including the pizza and chicken. People were also sent to Wal-Mart to purchase diapers, he added.

"That was a 100 percent, totally secured facility, so anything that came in had to go through full security measures," he said. "It sounds like it was well-handled."

When it was finally understood that the second crew would have to come in, Peterson said, the staff thought ahead to consider possible occurrences to be prepared for, including the possible need to de-ice the runway, and made arrangements so as not to create further delays.

"Sure enough, when the plane was late getting in here because they had the flat tire, they actually did need the de-ice," he said. "They just pre-planned everything really well."

While the aircraft was on the ground, Baldwin said, medical issues arose with one passenger, who was transported to the hospital for evaluation, but returned after that. A couple also requested that their infant be examined, Baldwin said, but "there was no real problem there as I understand it."

Peterson said GCIA was picked because Moses Lake is a convenient place and a good spot to divert.

"At times, we've had as many as five or six international flights diverted in here," he said.

Moses Lake resident and Big Bend Community College president Bill Bonaudi was one of the passengers on the flight from Amsterdam. He said he had gone to Germany to have Christmas with his son and his son's family. But even though he was at his final destination, he was unable to leave the airport because of the customs situation.

"It took a little longer to get home than I thought," Bonaudi said. "It was an interesting topic of conversation. A lot of passengers knew I was from Moses Lake and they were very nice in commiserating about it."

Bonaudi said that the passengers were "amazingly positive," even though they were anxious to get to their destination — be it home or otherwise, in the case of some foreign nationals.

"I was so proud of the way Larry Godden of Air America and Craig Baldwin of the Port did almost a superhuman effort to (help passengers to) feel as comfortable as possible under the circumstances," he said.

Bonaudi said he finally got back home to Moses Lake at about 1 p.m. Wednesday after landing in Seattle.

"I had a great time in Germany, but this just added to the story," he said. "We'll be talking about this for years to come."