Where there delays in PHL this morning??? Is there a website that has delays of the airports??
My, my. Have we forgotten how to search?
The page, as a search of the forum showed, is fly.faa.gov/flyfaa/usmap.jsp
Someone PLEASE tell me he didn’t just ask that question…
Come on. It is even the FIRST link on the left side of the FAA main page!!!
Nitro, you are slipping…BIG TIME!!!
Damn…Dave beat me by 2 seconds…
ALSO Nitro, look at the thread ASKING about the actual page!!! (at the time of this posting, it was the next thread down)
YAW S**T I didn’t see that at all. I’ll make it up some how.
A bottle of Vermont maple syrup a month for the next 3 years will make it up, Nitro.
A la Super Troopers…
Funny!
I hate to divert away from this… discussion, but I’m going to try to redirect it to the original topic. It’s been discussed in previous threads that KPHL is ALWAYS the first airport to delay flights when it looks like a cloud may pass over it. I’ve even had flights through PHL changed at the ticket counter to avoid it, as even USAirways knows what a pain in the blitzer PHL controllers can be about the delays.
Someone else pointed out that it may be more of a precaution, as apparently the PHL controllers are mildly psychotic when it comes to spacing a/c upon approach in so-so weather (as in NOT ENOUGH space). I’m sure it doesn’t help that PHL is smack dab between the NY triumvirate and the Washington (& Baltimore) trio as well. Volume issues at any combination of these airports’ airspace will bog Philly down as well.
A few airports are especially reliant on VFR weather and a certain wind direction in order to keep their operations per hour much higher than in any other configuration. PHL is up there, so is BOS. ORD and SFO come to mind as well. These airports have a few different combinations of which runways are used for arrivals, which are used for departures, and they have one that really stands out as the keeper, and airlines rely on that acceptance rate when they make their schedules (and frankly, they often schedule more arrivals or departures than even the BEST case scenario can handle.
Well, all it takes is a few clouds or a light breeze in the wrong direction to force a less desirable configuration, thus instantly decreasing the capacity of the airport.
For example, at PHL, the best configuration (I use that term loosely) is landing on 27R and 26 visually, while also landing on runway 35 visual with the arrivals on 27R. The props (for the most part Piedmont Dash 8s) are issued traffic on final for the crossing runway to follow behind, and its up to the pilots to adjust their speed on final to they don’t beat or tie the jets on 27R to the intersection. Then departures use 27L. If there is limited visibility or any clouds that restrict the view from either 35 or 27R finals, that cuts off one whole flow into the airport, and all those guys that would have landed 35 get to hold somewhere.
To close, the new runway 32 at BOS is opening soon, and that should alleviate alot of the delays when the winds are out of the NW (the current worst configuration) .
DM