>>120679

I don't believe that there have been any reports that the tower was shut down or that approach/departure control shut down.

Pretty sure if you had a private plane, or a cargo jet that wasn't under the command and control of the flight opps of the major carriers that went dark, you could take off no problem.

If you wanted to sneak out of there the chaos created by the fire would offer a nice diversion. There would likely be very little scrutiny of any aircraft able to leave as they needed as much free space at the airport to park all of the inbound flights that no longer had any open gates to park at.

If something fucky snuck out of there that CAL 747 would certainly be the 1st one I would dig into.

>>120761

Not if the tower was still functioning. No where has it been stated that the tower went dark.

If the tower was still lit there would have been ground control and departure control.

>>120725

>3:22 p.m. – The FAA has extended the ground stop to at least 4 p.m., and says between 80 to 100 jets are parked on the taxiways, waiting for gates.

A ground stop is different from an airport closure.

Departures are possible during a ground stop.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_stop

I haven't seen any indication that ATL was closed at any point yesterday.