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- LONDON - A plane carrying 55 passengers circled an airport in western
Scotland for half an hour while an air traffic controller had lunch, airport
officials said.
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- The officials at the airport on the island
of Benbecula in the Western Isles of Scotland apologized Monday for the
incident, which took place last Friday, but blamed it on a shortage of
air traffic controllers.
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- They said there was just one controller
at Benbecula, and she had to take a break at the time she did because national
air traffic rules forbid any controller from working more than two hours
without one.
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- The Times newspaper said Tuesday that
there had been an uproar in the terminal building as families watched the
plane from Glasgow linger in a holding pattern, "tantalizingly within
view.''
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- It had left Glasgow 25 minutes late,
and finally touched down in Benbecula 55 minutes late after the controller
returned to her radar screen.
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