@AirservicesAustralia Melbourne Tower evacuation

[markis10]

As tweeted, delays expected

AirservicesAustralia ‏@AirservicesNews 2m
Staff in our Melb control tower have been evacuated due smoke. Some delays to flights expected.More details 2follow when avail.#melbairport

 

[markis10]

Update

AirservicesAustralia ‏@AirservicesNews 3m
Staff at #Melb tower evacuated due to smoke from bush fires. Tower now safe to return to - normal ops will resume shortly #vicfires

 

[samh004]

Did someone leave a window open?

 

[marki]

Very smoky in Melbourne today. Can't see the hills from the city !

 

[marki]

What happened to the stock exchange today did it crash?

 

[markis10]

I cannot think of any tower I worked in that had windows that opened, I dont imagine the newer ones had that feature added, if they did I wonder why.

 

[markis10]

For a bit of comedy here is no news take on it published some twenty minutes after the tweets:

ALL flights to and from Melbourne Airport have reportedly been grounded.

The Herald Sun understands that air traffic control workers have been evacuated due to smoke.
Large amounts of smoke can be seen from the tarmac but its exact origin is not yet known.
Melbourne Airport has been contacted for comment.
More to come ...

http://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/flights-grounded-evacuations-at-melbourne-airport-report/story-fnii5sms-1226823691090

 

[Virgin Bart]

I just landed in MEL.

 

[nlagalle]

I landed about 35 mins late after circling for 30 odd mins. Couldn't even see where I was due to the smoke below!

 

[Virgin Bart]

View from above

 

[SeatBackForward]

What happened to the stock exchange today did it crash?

There were problems with data feeds from the ASX so they put the whole market into pre-bids for a short while. It'd be a long bow to connect this with the evacuation of the Melb tower

 

[markis10]

There were problems with data feeds from the ASX so they put the whole market into pre-bids for a short while. It'd be a long bow to connect this with the evacuation of the Melb tower

I was wondering..... In the meantime the pictures make me feel sorry for those with breathing issues, especially the elderly and infirm.

 

[bass_ke]

Good Markis sir, is the Melbourne centre facility in the same building, and of evacuated what happens to all the aircraft they look after?

Cheers
Nate

 

[markis10]

Good Markis sir, is the Melbourne centre facility in the same building, and of evacuated what happens to all the aircraft they look after?

Cheers
Nate

The old tower was separate and my knowledge is not across the newer one but I suspect it's the same. If they have to evacuate there are procedures in place for others to take the slack, I won't go into those details for obvious reasons and they are probably out of date anyway.

 

[Jason7]

I drove passed the airport around 3pm-ish today and it was blatantly quite smokey visually and the smell was quite strong.

 

[docjames]

I landed about 35 mins late after circling for 30 odd mins. Couldn't even see where I was due to the smoke below! View attachment 24628

Great pic - love the crossing plane below!

 

[RooFlyer]

So is the conclusion is that the tower air con sucked in ambient bushfire smoke and it was too much for the (presumed) filters? Some-one smelled burning (or the alarms went off), they evacuated until common sense kicked in? I guess you can't just ignore an alarm and the evacuation only seemed to be brief.