This captain was certainly trying to think out of the box in an unusual situation. Isn't that just the situations they hire us for, any certified pilot can fly the plane, but they can't all make critical decisions in critical circumstances. Good on him for trying, I haven't heard of any of the captains from the other diverted planes doing any better.

 

I hear ya...but you know how it most likely happened...the company and airport kept telling him 30 more minutes...fuel is on the way....you're next. Before you know it, there goes 7 hours of saying "I'm gonna do something if they don't get back with me in 10 minutes"

Also the aircraft was stuck between two other planes with unplowed movement areas...hence him requesting a tow.

That being said, It's still a bunch of crap! We are better than this!

 

"The plan was to land there, fuel up and fly back to Newark, assuming the glide slope equipment -- a signal light that jets lock on to as they approach for landing"
...

 

Amen. Because this article has a lot of holes in it it's not worth treating as it is accurate but let's just say it's wiser to say "the airport is closed and we're heading to our alternate" before you say "we're running out of fuel" because you're approaching bingo fuel.

Now was the airport closed? It was closed to you and that's all that matters.

And once on the ground, if you as the Captain declare an emergency does the airline still get fined $27K?

I agree. But I think going over to the FBO would have also been more difficult than one would imagine and may have required blowing off ATC and operating a plane in the blind in a snow storm.

The answer is clearly more MD88s.



^^^^
Wow that thing must have just come from the wash, look how clean it is! And quiet!

Chuck Schumer will be livid if they do. Schumer > LaHood.

Damn, I thought I knew just about all I needed to know about flying but evidently I have no clue what that is.

 

And I wonder, if you blow the slides on the 757 and people slide down onto an ice packed ramp, what speed will they be going at the bottom of the slide because I bet they go that speed for a while.

I wonder if the ambulance will even come out?

And how will those people walk around on the snow and ice with their carry on bags? You know they're going to bring their carry ons.

 

I can't believe the nah Sayers. This makes JetBlue look
Like a dickey show. I would go nuts sitting in a plane on the ground feet from freedom. This is incompetent management. First business if the morning would be escorting the station manager off the property. No excuse for this. It's not like they were in Da Nang under fire.
The Captain did all he could.

 

BDL is a very poorly ran airport. They had no contingency plans for these sort of operations. DTW and EWR learned the hard way years ago.

 

Lets just talk about the conditions at the time.... it sucked, I know we were flying Amsterdam to Newark and got the word initially that Both of the Glideslopes for 4L/R were down..and the vis was at 2400rvr on the left side IF you could shoot the RNAV to that side. He landed at BDL at 1330...for a time reference we landed at SWF at 1402..... the weather at SWF at the time was crap. BLOWING snow...HEAVY snow... it took less than an hour for the snow to fill in the tracks of our 747. Blow the slides? are you freaking HIGH? thats good ....come sliding down into 8 - 12 inches of wet/frozen slush on the backside... brilliant idea. We waited 4 hours for customs to clear us. SWF was running on back up power, in a raging storm. They dealt with two pax diverts and it still took them several hours to get the passengers SAFELY off those two aircraft in the storm.

Probably plenty of blame to go around in this case, sometimes **** just happens. Should JB or any airline be fined in situations like this that are just beyond the scope of what these airports can handle...no. BDL is certainly a bigger pax airport than SWF but still... 20+ diversions... plus their normal traffic..... and ONE plane had an issue....sounds like overall they did a good job.

 

It sounds like you are talking about some strange expectation for people to have some common sense... good luck with that one. I do however agree with you post. Sometimes **** just happens. I don't see any alternative action for the crew in question. Slides were not an option and they were positively communicating the situation onboard their aircraft to everyone they could reach. They were just stuck there until someone came along to get the pax off the aircraft.

 

I agree blowing the slides is a poor decision unless the aircraft is on fire etc. However all airports certified under 139 are required to have alternate means of deplaining passengers by their ARFF. See below...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/planephotoman/4365998471
http://www.flickr.com/photos/planephotoman/4386122727