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Tyler Johnson, [email protected]
ROCK SPRINGS, WYOMING (January 5, 2021) – About 175 air travelers were stuck at airports over the weekend due to a power outage at the Southwest Wyoming Regional Airport in Rock Springs.
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According to Regional Airport Director Devon Brubaker, the Rocky Mountain Power outage affected the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) weather station.
Despite locating the problem very quickly, a technician from the National Weather Service (NWS) in Riverton needed to come down to troubleshoot and repair the problem.
Brubaker said that the airport does not own the equipment, which is located about 500 feet away from the primary taxi road inside the perimeter fence.
The FAA is responsible for upgrading and replacing the equipment, while the NWS takes responsibility for monitoring it and repairing it, Brubaker noted.
“The equipment about 30 years old,” Brubaker said, adding that there is other weather station equipment out there that would allow the NWS to monitor and potentially repair it remotely.
He said they are hoping to have the equipment replaced.
According to Brubaker, the reason the airport was shut down for so long is because the amount it took the technician to drive down from Riverton.
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