The Conservative Cave
The Bar => The Lounge => Topic started by: debk on June 11, 2010, 12:18:13 PM
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why the hell a plane would leave an airport without enough fuel to make it to it's destination? :censored:
My kids' grandfather died Wednesday evening, in Nebraska....and my son, daughter and granddaughter - she's 7 months old and still nursing (SIL and grandson stayed here) left this morning on a 6:20am Delta flight.
They were scheduled to fly from here to Minneapolis, change planes and fly into Omaha, to be met and drive another 2.5 hours to Grand Island.
Their plane diverted to Kansas City ....BECAUSE THEY NEEDED TO REFUEL!!!!
AREN'T THEY SUPPOSED TO TAKE OFF WITH ENOUGH TO GET WHERE THEY ARE GOING?!?!?!?!!
Because they were diverted to KC...they missed the connection out of Minneapolis to Omaha.
When I talked to my son about an hour ago... Delta said they couldn't get them out of MN until 7:30 tonight!!
He'd already had the Delta person hang up on him and was waiting on hold to talk to someone else, and they answered while we were talking so he hung up.
Their phones are going to straight to VM ....so hopefully they got on a flight and their phones aren't just dead...
:(
At least they are together....my daughter would be flipping out if she was alone, especially with the baby...
Good thing Delta wasn't flying over the ocean... :censored:
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Maybe there was a hell of a headwind, which would account for increased fuel consumption.
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Maybe there was a hell of a headwind, which would account for increased fuel consumption.
Ah....that could be. Cause I was wondering how they ended up in KC rather than Chicago....which is more direct. There's a lot of storms between here and there....
Too bad they couldn't have gotten on a flight out of KC to Omaha....
The baby's had a bad upper respiratory infection - had to go to Children's - and she still has a bad cough. The ups/downs will be hard on her....and she's travelling with 2 adults, who have been flying since babies themselves....and totally HATE to fly.... :(
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Sounds like the pilot and the ops person screwed the pooch. I used to work for Delta. That stuff NEVER happened when I was working there. Something's up with their system or it was human error.
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I believe fed regs require them to arrive at their destination with one hour of fuel remaining.....if they're going to come up short, they divert.
They used to fly fully loaded with fuel...back when it was cheap. It cost real money for them to haul extra fuel around.
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Just got a text....they are in Omaha.
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Just got a text....they are in Omaha.
Glad they made it!!
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Glad they made it!!
Thanks. Me too.
This is first time both my kids have been on a plane together in years. I didn't realize how much it would bother me.
I'm still "helicopter-ing" and they are 28 and 31. Drives them crazy sometimes and I just go "whump, whump".... :shucks:
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Also, and this happened to me quite a few years ago, there's something with the humidity of the air that restricts a plane's capacity. If the air is too humid (I think it works this way), the plane can't be loaded with its' full load of fuel, else it'll be too heavy. Cost me some time at Heathrow 23 years ago, on my way to Germany. We had to stop at Gander, Newfoundland instead, and refuel there instead.
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First time I ever was on a plane a couple of years ago the pilot announced that due to a reroute they were going to add more fuel.
I thought at the time "jeez you cut it that close?"
Now in relaying that to coworkers I was told by one (no idea if it is true so let that be a disclaimer) that on 9/11 when all flights were grounded those coming in from overseas had to dump over the ocean large quantities of fuel before they could safely land in Greenland or elsewhere.
The thought being that the airliner for stability and descent control could not be laden with too much fuel.
Perhaps there is someone much more knowledgeable about this that can say that is true or it is a myth.
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I don't know about anyplace else but there wasn't anything close to a windy day here in Omaha and I was at the airport all afternoon.
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I don't know about anyplace else but there wasn't anything close to a windy day here in Omaha and I was at the airport all afternoon.
Did you see my kids? They got in about 2.. :-)
I couldn't figure out how they ended up in KC either on the way to Minneapolis. It wasn't windy here this morning when they left, but it was very foggy. Maybe they had to go around some storms....
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Miss Madelyn has already figured out what to do while flying.....
(http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs538.snc3/30534_1495829002253_1429921647_1316073_7037240_n.jpg)
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debk Normally aircraft are dispatched with enough fuel to reach their destination and an alternate destination. Plus when when flying into weather they will carry extra fuel in case they are put in a holding pattern over the airport. Did your son mention holding for a long time before they diverted?
carl aircraft dump fuel to get under the max landing weight. Say you have a trip going IAH-FRA that has to divert to DFW due to a medical emergency. All that fuel that would normally been burned enroute to FRA has to be dumped otherwise the aircraft would be to heavy to land safely.
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debk Normally aircraft are dispatched with enough fuel to reach their destination and an alternate destination. Plus when when flying into weather they will carry extra fuel in case they are put in a holding pattern over the airport. Did your son mention holding for a long time before they diverted?
carl aircraft dump fuel to get under the max landing weight. Say you have a trip going IAH-FRA that has to divert to DFW due to a medical emergency. All that fuel that would normally been burned enroute to FRA has to be dumped otherwise the aircraft would be to heavy to land safely.
No...he didn't say. I only talked to him for a couple of minutes...the rest was texting.
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Miss Madelyn has already figured out what to do while flying.....
(http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs538.snc3/30534_1495829002253_1429921647_1316073_7037240_n.jpg)
How cute.
Sorry to hear about the kid's grandfather.
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How cute.
Sorry to hear about the kid's grandfather.
Thanks.
It's my kids' paternal grandfather, Madelyn's great grandfather. He was 86 and pretty healthy until he got pneumonia a couple of weeks ago. Apparently he was going to be released in the next day or two, and died Wednesday afternoon.