For those stranded there, the options for escape are chartering an aircraft or waiting until the wind sensor is fixed, said City and Borough of Yakutat city manager Jon Erickson in a phone interview. Yakutat only gets ferry service in the summer, when it receives two vessels a month. Without full ASOS functionality, Erickson said, Alaska Airlines, the only carrier that serves the small city, can’t land due to flight regulations.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“Alaska Airlines won’t land unless ASOS is operating 60 minutes before they land,” Erickson said.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Norton Gregory, who works for Tlingit Haida Regional Housing Authority, went up to Yakutat on what he intended to be a same-day return on Wednesday. Instead, with the sensor down, the Alaska Airline plane could only leave without passengers, due to Federal Aviation Administration regulations.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“I got a notification that my flight was canceled,” said Gregory in an interview Monday. “I watched as the plane got de-iced, the bird lifted off, and that was it. That was the last Alaska Airlines flight since Wednesday.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
While charter flights can make it to and from the town of fewer than 1,000 people without the ASOS operating at full functionality, it’s not inexpensive. Medical organizations have the resources to make sure those requiring medical attention are able to get to Anchorage, Norton said, but for him, it cost about $5,000 to get an Alaska Seaplanes charter from Yakutat to Juneau for him and eight other stranded travelers who bought in to help defray some of the cost.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“I’m glad we got out because I don’t know if there’s any flights in or out,” Gregory said. “I feel for those folks (in Yakutat). They’re pretty isolated. They’re pretty resilient. But they can’t get out right now. At least affordably. It’s the uncertainty. Not everybody has the ability to come up with five grand to secure one of these flights.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Some flights to transport residents to Anchorage for scheduled medical care had to turn back due to inclement weather, Gregory said. The uncertainty about who to contact for accurate information was a problem as well, Gregory said. He made contacts with all members of the Alaska congressional delegation, noting that Sen. Lisa Murkowski was aware of the ongoing problem with Yakutat’s ASOS system and had asked some of the agencies involved for an update as recently as Dec 1.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“That was the second most concerning thing for me, that no one in leadership is taking a role in getting people up to date,” Gregory said. “There’s been no communication from Alaska Airlines saying ‘Hey, this thing is down, and we know it’s going to be down.’”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
A spokesperson from Alaska Airlines confirmed that they weren’t able to provide service until repairs were done.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“We are prevented from flying into Yakutat due to the National Weather System equipment being inoperative and the current weather conditions,” said Alaska Airlines spokesperson Tim Thompson in an email.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Tickets for daily flights to Yakutat were still available as of Tuesday evening on the Alaska Airlines website.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
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