Apple Maps has failed again. Those trying to get to Fairbanks International Airport in Alaska have wound up on airport runways due to a mistake.
Drivers may want to use a real map when attempting to get to the airport. According to the Alaska Dispatch, at least two out-of-town drivers were given iPhone directions which led them across the runway to the airport ramp side of the passenger terminal in the past three weeks. In both cases, the drivers followed the directions even though there is a gate and sign which says not to proceed.
"These folks drove past several signs. They even drove past a gate. None of that cued them that they did something inappropriate," Melissa Osborn, chief of operations at the Fairbanks airport, told the Dispatch.
The app doesn't directly tell people to cross the runway, but it sent them to a point called Taxiway Bravo or Taxiway B.
"Once drivers reached the taxiway, it was only natural for them to look up and see the terminal on the other side of the runway. So that's where they drove," the Dispatch reported.
According to airport marketing director Angie Spear, the airport staff made complaints to the state attorney general's office to Apple after a Sept. 6 incident. Yet another driver made the same mistake on Sept. 20.
As a result, the airport was forced to close the runway route to Taxiway Bravo from Float Pond Road. Barricades were put in place and pilots have been warned to look out for cars on the runway in case a driver gets through.
Apple has made a temporary adjustment to the problem and simply tells drivers that the route is not available.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
