Computer, weather problems force flight delays on both coasts

In this story: Flight spacing created delays Storms cause Boston delays RELATED STORIES, SITES

SAN FRANCISCO (CNN) -- The intermediate air traffic control computers accepting incoming flights and passing them on to local airports failed Wednesday for three hours, causing delays at two of the Bay Area's three airports.

Mike McCarron, a spokesman for San Francisco International Airport, said no aircraft were in danger during the failure and controllers never lost complete contact with incoming aircraft. He said the incident occurred at a time of light traffic in the mid-morning hours.

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Air traffic controllers were unable to see data that included the flight number, altitude and direction on the radar screen.

They switched to a manual system, writing the missing information on paper and passing notes between controllers. The system came back up at 11 a.m.

Flights were also spaced out by as much as 30 miles to avoid problems, which caused delays of 20 to 60 minutes at San Francisco and San Jose International. Oakland International Airport said it experienced no unusual delays.

San Francisco officials expected flights to return to normal by later Wednesday.

Weather in the Bay Area was sunny and clear, controllers said, helping them to visually track the incoming flights.

A breaker problem is suspected in the outage, according to Jerry Snyder, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman, but he said it could be quite a while before maintenance workers can pinpoint the cause.

Elsewhere, thunderstorms caused long delays for flights destined for Boston, the Federal Aviation Administration said. Flight controllers were delaying flights an average of two hours and 13 minutes, with some flights being delayed nearly six hours, the FAA said.

Boston-bound flights from airports closest to Boston Logan International Airport faced the brunt of the delays. They included Cleveland, New York, Washington, Indianapolis, Chicago and Minneapolis.

The FAA advised travelers to check airlines for information about departure times.

CNN Correspondent Greg Lefevre and Mike Ahlers of the CNN Washington bureau contributed to this report.

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