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Centrist_gun_nut t1_ir5wua1 wrote

Reply to comment by bemest in Haven’t seen this happen before. Anyone know what’s going on at the airport? by t_11

This is close but it may be way more interesting than that. I listened to the ATC, briefly.

It sounds like the approach charts that Jetblue had for this require full instrument landing systems but that the distance-measuring radios (DMEs) have been out of service in Worcester for like a month. NOTAM reads:

!ORH 08/011 ORH NAV ILS RWY 29 DME u / S 2208101301-2304192000EST meaning "DME Unusable".

Worcester Tower said it was fine to try without this, and it sounds like the pilots tried a couple of times but weren't predisposed to taking risks when their paperwork says they needed the system that was broken.

So it was a combination of broken ILS, bad weather, and caution.

Disclaimer: not this kind of pilot.

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