Commercial pilot here, currently flying transatlantic routes. I avoided Irma last week while flying to Buenos Aires (it was not this big yet). I have partners in San Juan at this moment, bunkered in the hotel. We see this as a crazy move, very well executed, but too risky for the plane itself (not so much for the crew). Let me explain, the metar and tafors (the airport meteorological reports we use) during the flight…
Amazing. Anyone have a video of the flight path with radar?
Delta Goes Big, Then Goes Home
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Re: Delta Goes Big, Then Goes Home
#112Commercial pilot here, currently flying transatlantic routes. I avoided Irma last week while flying to Buenos Aires (it was not this big yet). I have partners in San Juan at this moment, bunkered in the hotel. We see this as a crazy move, very well executed, but too risky for the plane itself (not so much for the crew). Let me explain, the metar and tafors (the airport meteorological reports we use) during the flight…
Amazing. Anyone have a video of the flight path with radar?
Pictures of the departure with weather radar.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/article17...
Re: Delta Goes Big, Then Goes Home
#113Re: Delta Goes Big, Then Goes Home
#114Commercial pilot here, currently flying transatlantic routes. I avoided Irma last week while flying to Buenos Aires (it was not this big yet). I have partners in San Juan at this moment, bunkered in the hotel. We see this as a crazy move, very well executed, but too risky for the plane itself (not so much for the crew). Let me explain, the metar and tafors (the airport meteorological reports we use) during the flight…
Thank you for the details from a Pilot's point of view. I was watching this flight play out live and it was certainly a nail biter. I couldn't believe they were going to land let alone take off.
Re: Delta Goes Big, Then Goes Home
#115I'm wondering about the ground crew willing to stay in the airport to help this flight get going - and then having to get to a shelter in the middle of a hurricane.
While I'm not familiar with SJU, my guess is an airport terminal is likely one of the more sturdy buildings around, and is likely to have some pretty robust structures you can take shelter in. Most commercial buildings are sturdier than the average house, and I'd rather be at an airport than at home in a storm that levels buildings.
I used to live about 20 minutes drive away from SJU (my parents still do) and travelled through it frequently for college breaks. SJU is much like any other largish international airport in the U.S.
Many of the houses and buildings there are sturdier than you'd think. My parents house is at the end of a row of six or so that share walls. So they buffer each other's flanks during a hurricane. Their windows don't have glass. Instead it's screens covered by storm shutters with iron bars over those. Also, the houses are constructed of thick reinforced concrete rather than the picturesque wood, siding, and shingles that you might be thinking of. It's actually rather bunker like. Hurricanes can hit several times per year and those houses are built to take the punishment.
(Got word from my parents last night that the power was out and their street is filled with windblown debris that they and their neighbors will be cleaning up today, but otherwise they came through fine.)
Re: Delta Goes Big, Then Goes Home
#116Re: Delta Goes Big, Then Goes Home
#117Re: Delta Goes Big, Then Goes Home
#118Commercial pilot here, currently flying transatlantic routes. I avoided Irma last week while flying to Buenos Aires (it was not this big yet). I have partners in San Juan at this moment, bunkered in the hotel. We see this as a crazy move, very well executed, but too risky for the plane itself (not so much for the crew). Let me explain, the metar and tafors (the airport meteorological reports we use) during the flight…
Also a pilot of 31 years (jeeze has it been that long!) apparently they should have crewed the other flights with military transport pilots. They would NOT have turned around... how many flights flipped a bitch without trying to find the hole? LOL
All macho talk aside, good on that Delta crew!!! That's worth a case of beer, on the Ada boy scale!
Re: Delta Goes Big, Then Goes Home
#119Two points: 1) Hurricanes are actually harmless to planes. The only part of the flight that includes any danger is landing, due to wind and low visibility. But flying at cruising altitude or even through the storm is fairly harmless, as most winds are horizontal and nothing out of the ordinary for a plane. Keep in mind that the NOAA regularly flies commercial jets (such as a Gulfstream V) into hurricanes. Also keep i…
NOAA does not fly their Gulfstream into hurricanes, it flies over them. They use WP-3s (strengthened P-3 Orions) to fly through the hurricane. The wind shear and turbulence can put quite a lot of stress on the airframe, it's nowhere near harmless. Crosswinds also make flying difficult, not to mention the vibration. A non-reinforced plane with a good pilot and 3-point seat belts could probably make it through, but the extra maintenance needed after would be enormous.
Re: Delta Goes Big, Then Goes Home
#120During the cold war my grandfather flew bombers into the eyes of hurricanes to drop sonar beacons. I'm sure he'd get a kick out of this. The older bombers they flew were all manual controls (as opposed to fly by wire), which meant physical exhaustion from wrestling the plane into the storm was a major factor - so they'd bring extra fuel to be able to circle the eye of the storm for some amount of time to build up the…
The main wing spar on those bombers also had to be reinforced to support the weight of the crew's giant balls. Respect.
Who down modded his comment. Get over yourself, snowflake.