An 8-by-2-foot pothole backed up air traffic at LaGuardia for over an hour Wednesday night. NBC 4 New York
A pothole measuring 8 feet by 2 feet appeared on Runway 13-31 at LaGuardia Airport yesterday, leaving just one open runway and bottlenecking departing and arriving flights for over an hour.
Around 3 p.m., a pilot on a departing flight from LGA reported the damage. On air traffic control recordings, the pilot is heard telling the controller, "There's a bunch of debris on the runway, just off the right side of the aircraft … It looks like a piece of concrete off the number three on the runway, the number completely blown off."
Port Authority is investigating the cause of the pothole, but it’s suspected that a landing plane blew off a chunk of concrete.
Frustrated passengers took to social media while dozens of airplanes lined up for delayed departures and arriving flights circled above.
"Been waiting for an hour in plane ... the pilot just informed us we are #49 for takeoff!" passenger Michelle Smith posted on Facebook.
Another passenger, Jefferson Gaddis, tweeted, “Pothole found on the #LGA runway. Flight delays, 30th in line to takeoff! @NYGovCuomo please help this city's potentially great airport!”
Airport staff re-paved Runway 13-31, which reopened around 8:30 p.m.
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