FAA 40% increase in delays in July (Question)?

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This was the second time in a week I had heard that the FAA said flight delays had increased in July by 35% to 40%.

What is amazing is when the FAA authorities are interviewed they blame the WEATHER. The Weather????? Excuse me but its July!!! and it just happens to be the dryest july on record. Half of the cities listed with delays are on the east coast!! Where we are currently having a severe drought.

Can anyone explain this Weather thing to me!!?? (tongue in cheek)

-- David Butts (dciinc@aol.com), August 17, 1999

Answers

Well when the temperature is hot the metal expands making the plan bigger and thus is slows down. Don't you see it has nothing to do with upgrades to aviation systems and testing and people on vacation and people quiting their jobs.

justthinkin

-- justthinkin com (y2k@notok.com), August 17, 1999.


justthinkin lol

-- Mike Lang (webflier@erols.com), August 17, 1999.

Well now, I'm not here to defend the FAA, no, no, no. In fact I think they have screwed up and will continue to screw up right into next year. However, the report needs to be looked at a little deeper. Arrival delays on the busy (clear & dry) East Coast can be the result of delays at the origination of the flight, in some other area, which may have been suffering from storms at the time. Likewise, if there are storm delays at some destination the flight will be delayed in taking off from the East Coast, as the ATC system will not allow the normal amount of departures headed for a known delay destination. Also, delays can be huge on one day or two and influence the "average" for the monthly report. This *can* be a normal situation. Just a thought.

-- Gordon (gpconnolly@aol.com), August 17, 1999.

The cracks in the runway are larger, so they have to land slower, then taxi around the holes..........

____

Gordon - there were no "national" weather patterns that created these delays.

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), August 17, 1999.


Come on guys. I was sitting in the Denver airport last Tuesday watching the runway for about 2 hours. There was a lineup of a whole bunch of planes. They just sat there and did not move!

Why? Because the sky was a big electrical show. The lightning was dancing everywhere.

Was I upset because my plane was not boarding? NO! I was happy to wait until the weather cleared.

Bad weather in one area affects the whole system. The planes on the ground in Denver were not landing in Boston, D.C. or anywhere else. They were not taking off for their next destination. The whole system was thrown off.

Safety is more important than being on time.

www.y2kkitchen.com

-- sally strackbein (sally@y2kkitchen.com), August 17, 1999.



Robert,

In aviation there is no such thing as national weather patterns. As in politics, all weather is local. If only Chicago alone was experiencing bad weather for a day or two, it would create massive delays on the East Coast.

-- Gordon (gpconnolly@aol.com), August 17, 1999.


MY experience is that 3/4 of the time, weather delays are justified. Remember, if we close Cleveburgh's airport between 5 and 6:30 PM for even 45 minutes, the planes CANNOT take off from DFW, BOSTON, NY, MINNIENOPLACE, etc. the delays cascade because the equipment is here and needed to be there by a certain time, the squipment on the ground there needs to be here and go somewhere else by a certain time......

Chuck, who meets late flights a LOT due to thunderstorms in cities FAR AWAY from Cleveburgh.

-- Chuck, a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), August 17, 1999.


All of the weather problems that others have described above have happened in previous summers. Unless the weather has been significantly worse this year, we must look for other causes. I suspect that there are more planes in the air than ever before due to the good economy.

-- Mr. Adequate (mr@adequate.com), August 18, 1999.

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