Recalculating: Apple map app directs drivers over active airport runway
Posted by: Jon Ben-Mayor on 09/26/2013 07:08 AM
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A slight glitch on the Apple Map app has directed some drivers across the runway of an Alaskan airport; the route seeks the shortest distance to the terminal, which in this case is right across the runway.
"It doesn't actually tell you to cross, but the problem is, people see the terminal then at that point, because they are right there, and they just continue across," said Fairbanks International Airport spokeswoman Angie Spear.
The first incident involved an out-of-state visitor trying to return a rental car before a flight, and the second
was an Alaska resident trying to get to the airport.
Once the control tower and airport personnel noticed the cars, the people were safely escorted away.
"Both parties that did it said they were following the directions on their iPhone," Spear said.
In July, state Rep. Les Gara, D-Anchorage, had a close call of his own when he was trying to make a flight after a meeting.
He was in an unfamiliar part of Fairbanks and decided to use his iPhone map app to take the shortest route to the airport.
Gara said the app took him to some weird places in Fairbanks, and then to the small plane airport near the international airport.
"Eventually, it told me to make a right onto the small plane runway, which in fact was the shortest way to get to the big airport," he said. "I give the iPhone app credit for that."
But he did not heed the directions: "I'm not a big fan of driving on runways."
"It doesn't actually tell you to cross, but the problem is, people see the terminal then at that point, because they are right there, and they just continue across," said Fairbanks International Airport spokeswoman Angie Spear.
The first incident involved an out-of-state visitor trying to return a rental car before a flight, and the second
was an Alaska resident trying to get to the airport.Once the control tower and airport personnel noticed the cars, the people were safely escorted away.
"Both parties that did it said they were following the directions on their iPhone," Spear said.
In July, state Rep. Les Gara, D-Anchorage, had a close call of his own when he was trying to make a flight after a meeting.
He was in an unfamiliar part of Fairbanks and decided to use his iPhone map app to take the shortest route to the airport.
Gara said the app took him to some weird places in Fairbanks, and then to the small plane airport near the international airport.
"Eventually, it told me to make a right onto the small plane runway, which in fact was the shortest way to get to the big airport," he said. "I give the iPhone app credit for that."
But he did not heed the directions: "I'm not a big fan of driving on runways."
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