October 31, 2011

E-mail

Received this last night at 1 AM...

Anyone have any input??
"You have two aircraft loaded with passengers sitting on the tarmac that can't takeoff because they need certified weather and your tower is closed. Why would I ever want to fly out of this airport or recommend it to anyone."

8 comments:

Steve Foley said...

The writer seems to infer that the tower is responsible for providing certified weather. If that is true, why were they still be sitting on the tarmac four hours after the tower closed, and five hours before it would open again?

It seems like you only got part of the story.

From what I remember, the airport transmits the automated weather over 126.55MHz. My guess is the ASOS (Automated Surface Observation System) failed.

Things break.

Steve Foley said...

Ummm..... West Tatnuck had no electricity at 1:00 this morning. I suspect that had something to do with it.

At 4:00pm the FAA published NOTAMs indicating all airport communications were out of service - making the ASOS broadcast impossible.

Brian Goslow said...

The surrounding neighborhood has been without power since early Sunday morning; I heard the Boston stations saying they couldn't get official reports from Worcester because the airport, thus reporting station, was down. Begs the question why no back up generator on both fronts?

Steve Foley said...

It seems the storm even had Jetblue planes sitting on the tarmac loaded with passengers.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204394804577010253072760794.html

David Z. said...

So exactly when did this happen? If the email didn't specify exact dates/times that the flights were supposed to leave, how do we even know if it is true?

I would think something like this would have made the local papers (even with the sorry state of our daily in mind).

Anonymous said...

What does certified weather mean?
I'm guessing it means only weather at the site of actual take-off is required, and using Logan or T.F. Green weather is not allowed.

I would say it would be Direct Air's responsibility to pay the controllers overtime if they plan to board passengers after the tower closes.

John

Matt said...

Im not entirely sure what they mean by "certified" weather. Airplanes can generally take off in almost any weather, It is the landing which requires more visibility. As for the tower, Worcester tower closes every night, but that does not mean that the airport is closed. Commercial aircraft fly in and out of airports with no tower everyday. The procedures are slightly different, but safety, or the overall ability to operate a flight because of the closed tower are never compromised.

Jahn said...

"You have two aircraft loaded with passengers sitting on the tarmac that can't takeoff because they need certified weather and your tower is closed. Why would I ever want to fly out of this airport or recommend it to anyone."


You have one Crown Victoria loaded with political ambition sitting far off the tar that cant continue southward becuz they shoulda got a certified black ice report before take off from Worcester but the weatherman closed just before departure. Why would I ever recommend anyone take a joy ride on I-190 :) j/k

Some things never cease to amaze me. Mr Rushton now wants to occassionally populate the city with gourmet food vendors. Consistency please? Definition of gourmet food please? Mr Jahn also wants to populate the city on occassion with high quality, high cholesterol food vendors e.g. Jahn Delisicotesen and if he cant then he wants to be part of the gourmet food vendor fest.

Were the occupy Worc folks being served food by 3rd parties and if so were the 3rd party vendors in violation of city rules?

Let me get this straight. Zillions of City shade trees that go untrimmed for decades collapse on utilty wires and some how it's the utilities fault that they cant get teh wires back up faster?

And the solution to this problem is for the city to take the electric company by eminent domain and the city will maintain the wires exactly how? The same way they maintain and shovel their sidewalks, the same way they maintain the street, the same way they maintain their shade tress, the same way they main their parks, the same way they the schools, teh same way they maintian the pool, and the same way they maintain the AUD.......and oooh BTW...dare I also ask where the 100's of millions will come from to buy the elec. distribution system?

Maybe Worc could do what Grafton did. They took the local privately owned water utility company by eminent domain, underpaid for the company, got their asses hauled to court, aND THEN have THE COURTS DEcide they underpaid for the water company and the town has to then cough up another gazzilon dollars plus interest at 12%. Nothing quite like politicains making knee jerk reactions