Gas odor at radar center delays flights

A partial evacuation at the air traffic control facility in Westbury yesterday evening caused delays at area airports, including LaGuardia and Kennedy, an FAA spokesman said.

Workers at the Terminal Radar Approach Control, or TRACON, facility reported an odor of gas at about 6:50 p.m.

Most of the air traffic controllers evacuated the building, except for a group of 25 workers who volunteered to remain in the building, allowing limited operations to continue at LaGuardia, Kennedy and Newark airports, said the spokesman, Jim Peters.

"We have a meter that measures certain CO level and oxygen level. There was nothing disrupting the air," said Patrick Cody, chief of the Westbury Fire Department.

By 7:40 p.m., all employees returned to the building and resumed working.

"It will take a while to get everything back to normal at the airports," Peters said.

The FAA put into a holding pattern any aircraft coming into New York, Peters said.

"We held airplanes in the air outside of Philly and Washington and in the New York area," Peters said.

The FAA also issued what is called a ground stop, which held some flights at airports that are scheduled to come into New York.

"The intent is to reduce the volume of aircrafts in the air that controllers would have to handle during these kinds of incidents," Peters said.