Originally Posted by
Bwipilot
I'd like to congratulate the Allegiant pilot who slid off the taxiway in Wichita last night for his outstanding airmanship.
I'm not saying that departing the taxiway was unavoidable. But he certainly showed his flying skills during his previous leg by droning at 170 knots for 20 miles into a 50 knot headwind in moderate icing. I have no idea why he was going so damn slow--we closed a 25 mile gap down to 5 by landing. We flew as fast as we safely could (250 knots until 2 miles from marker) and were fully configured and on speed by 1500' (and beneath the cloud deck). We still looked like a Christmas ornament after landing with a heavy coating of icing wherever we didn't have anit-ice to keep the plane clean. I can only imagine what his plane looked like.
I was angry that approach had to put us on such a long final because he was going so slow that far out into a 50 knot headwind. I kept my mouth shut at the time--but had a wry smile when I heard that the winds pushed the same crew off the taxiway later that night.
I expect a little negative karma--but wanted to high light the CA who did such a wonderful job last night.
The 80 can't come down in icing conditions clean, it just doesn't work. Chances are the crew had to configure the airplane in order to descend with enough power to keep the wings hot. Some of the 80's require a lot. Maybe they were flying at flap speed with the power up to keep the ice protection working. A reasonable explanation other than just poor piloting.