Op-spec probably. FAA tower close often, many are
part-time. If there was a scheduled flight in-bound the
crew should have stayed a little overtime. But if the tower
is closed, no clearance is available for landing, but as
long as the last weather observation is current [less than
an hour] an IFR approach can be made under Part 91. But FAR
121 and the airline manual control.
As to airline diversions, they will always try to go to a
terminal where they have a service agreement.



"Roy Smith" wrote in message
...
| In article ,
| Blowinginthewind wrote:
|
| FAA Control tower Abandoned
|
| Southwest Planes Turn Around Minutes From Green
| Southwest Says Planes Could Not Land Without Air Traffic
Control
|
| Ignoring the the sarcastic comments, and somewhat puzzled
by why the
| tower would be abandoned, I'm curious what prevented the
flight from
| landing. Is there something in SW's op-specs which
requires an
| operating control tower to land?
|
| It also seems odd that they would turn around and go back
to
| Baltimore. It would seem to make more sense to land
someplace close
| (like BDL) and put the pax on a bus to their final
destination.