The military slang means that the plane would only have enough fuel left to land the aircraft.
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It was the latest emergency the low-budget airline has been asked to explain over the past few months. The FAA said it is looking into the incident.
According to Allegiant Air, the flight – which arrived at Fargo about 90 minutes later than expected due to a delayed departure – eventually “declared a fuel emergency upon arrival at Hector worldwide Airport (FAR) and subsequently landed safely”.
Whether that was communicated to the Allegiant flight is unclear but complicating the problem is that the plane, Flight 426, was delayed nearly an hour in Las Vegas before departing.
Pilots who participated in the picket line came from Allegiant’s Las Vegas and Mesa, Ariz. pilot bases and from other cities in the Allegiant system.
“We don’t have … enough fuel to go anywhere else”, the pilot said.
The Allegiant pilot told air traffic controllers he needed to land immediately and was initially told he’d have to wait 20 minutes.
A recording of the conversation between the pilot and airport tower was posted to the popular aviation website LiveATC.net.
The pilot told controllers that the airline was trying to contact the tower manager about being on “Bingo” – or low – fuel and was preparing to declare an emergency.
“Okay”, the pilot said.
Ya, listen were bingo fuel here in about probably in three, three to four minutes and I got to come in and land, the pilot replied.
The tower then told the pilot his airline should have known about the closing. The pilot responded: “OK, yeah”.
“We follow up with the airlines on all such events”, said Lynn Lunsford, an FAA spokesman.
The plane made an emergency landing, and all the passengers were reported to be safe. The Blue Angels could not be reached to comment. “However, as you know, the pilot said otherwise, and requested landing at Fargo”. “We will provide details regarding the flight as soon as they are available”. “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”. The weather at the Fargo airport, which has more than one runway, was good when the aircraft landed. The Federal Aviation Administration requires flights to carry an extra 45 minutes of fuel for emergencies.
He tells the Tampa Bay Times the airline and the pilot are both responsible for knowing whether an airliner’s destination is open or closed.
Notices about the Fargo airspace closing began in December, the FAA’s Cory said.
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“The pilot’s going to get to answer some interesting questions from the FAA”, Cox said.
