Allegiant Air Flight 426: Pilot Told Runway Closed With Only Three Minutes Of Fuel Left In Tank

The pilot of a plane with three minutes of fuel left was told he could not land at North Dakota airport because the runway was closed. Allegiant Air Flight 426 was reportedly circling above the Hector International Airport in Fargo when the shocking response was uttered from the control tower.

Allegiant Air Flight 426 could not land at the North Dakota airport because the Navy’s Blue Angels were practicing for an upcoming airshow, according to a Daily Mail report. The air traffic controllers in Fargo reportedly suggested that the pilot land at an airport about 70 miles away, the pilot said he did not have the “fuel to go anywhere else.”

The Allegiant Air pilot also stated that he was told the Hector International Airport runway would not be cleared for about 2o minutes. The McDonnell Douglas MD-80 pilot then told the North Dakota control tower that he would have “bingo fuel” in about three to four minutes. The military slang means that the plane would only have enough fuel left to land the aircraft.

“Flight 426 with scheduled service from LAS to FAR on July 23, 2015 declared a fuel emergency upon arrival at Hector International Airport (FAR) and subsequently landed safely,” an airline representative told the media after the closed runway incident. “At this time, we are coordinating with the FAA and the airport to investigate all channels of communication regarding the flight and the circumstances leading to the declaration of emergency.”

“And our guys are trying to get in touch with the tower manager right now to coordinate our landing or I’m going to have to declare an emergency and come in and land,” the flight and tower communication recording reportedly said.

The Fargo airport ground control gave the Allegiant Air pilot a phone number to call to request permission to land after the comment about declaring an emergency was reportedly uttered.

At one point during the recording, the Hector International Airport ground control staffer appeared to get irritated with the Allegiant pilot.

“Your company should have been aware of this [Blue Angels practice] for a number of months,” the air traffic controller said.

The plane’s departure from Las Vegas was reportedly delayed by more than an hour. Had the Allegiant Air Flight 426 arrived as scheduled, the plane would reportedly have had a 12-minute window of runway use for the Blue Angels practice session.

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