Flightradar Storm Isha part 2

[IceWhites]

Continue here if you’d like :)

Question still hasn't been answered, were passengers boarding the planes aware that they are flying into a shitstorm? Was there an option to disembark or were they just taken to Cologne

DD landed in Healthrow from Geneva last night and said that she thought she wasn't going to see me again and made peace with the fact that she was going to die. The plane was rocking from side to side and dropping at the same time. Lots of people screaming and most bracing on the seat in front of them.

This Atlas out of Brize Norton is having a lovely time!

USAF F35/15 have been up ALL DAY since about 9am here and are still at it.

Not to nerd out but wonder where this AWACS is headed? I think it is based out of Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska.

RYR156 Dublin-Leeds seems to be diverting to Manchester

Do you think landing at Manchester 2am will be alright?

It’s very windy again here tonight (LBA). It seemed to die down a bit at teatime but gusty again now.

Stories and diversions from the storm

Storm Isha forces UK flights to divert to France and Germany - BBC News

And a good CNN article

Storm Isha: Passengers wake up in the 'wrong' country as extreme winds play havoc with flight plans | CNN

“Whilst it may be exciting and sometimes stressful for passengers, and even entertaining when narrated by Jerry from Big Jet TV, it’s all part of a day’s work for an airline pilot. We train for these extreme events and plan for success, but also consider our contingencies in great detail. Yesterday we allowed sufficient fuel for an additional approach if needed, extra holding, and even a diversion to an airport where the wind wasn’t so acute,” they said.
“Safety isn’t an accident, it’s all about planning and having options when a landing isn’t assured at your destination.”

@butterflybywindow

The decision to go to Cologne would have been made after the flight got airborne, possibly after the failed approach(s) into ?Edinburgh. There’s no way to the passengers get a vote on that sort of decision. or even consulted.

Onjectievly it’s impossible to answer your “shitstorm” question without knowing what you mean by shit storm?

For example 30 knots across with gusts above that isn’t a “shit storm,”, 50 meters visibility forecast in fog might cause diversions, but again isn’t a “shitstorm.”

With my (retired) professional pilot’s hat on I looked at some of the airport forecasts on Sunday AM and none of them had “shit show” written on them but it did look like shaping up to being a long hard day at work for this those still employed in the business. The long hard day happened for many but everybody did their jobs and it all ended safely.

BTW giving everybody onboard a flight a vote on whether they are going to fly or not based on their feelz and MSM reports would potentially be a recipe for chaos, given the standard of reporting, people having different subjective comfort levels and also for a whole host of practical reasons.

I'm also a bit confused by this. Disembark at what stage?

@cakeorwine

“Whilst it may be exciting and sometimes stressful for passengers, and even entertaining when narrated by Jerry from Big Jet TV

I know a lot of folks love Jerry’s works but his “oohs” and “aaahs” are IMHO overly dramatic and certainly grind a lot of gears….best watched with the sound turned down.

I was wondering that too - the whole reason they went to cologne was because they couldn’t land at Edinburgh - there was no where they would have disembarked.

"I'm also a bit confused by this. Disembark at what stage?"

I assumed the poster meant that the passengers should have been told/asked at initial boarding whether they wanted to continue given the chance of diversion. Which was never going to happen, given the intention would always been to have maintained the initial destination until it was certain they couldn't, and the diversion destination wouldn't have been certain either.

Letting passengers disembark once boarded is difficult too, from a security POV. I did it once and I've always wondered whether they made a mistake letting me - I could have left anything on the plane! (I only had hand luggage).

Maybe they should’ve flown very slowly over Edinburgh and handed out parachutes to everyone who wanted to get off?

@PatriciaHolm

Letting passengers disembark once boarded is difficult too...

Very much agree, certainly needs a bit of thought.

The only time I've seen anything along those lines done was on an early AM flight, Europe > LHR, lots of business travellers heading for meetings and also some other travellers on day trips

Heathrow was v foggy, leading to 2 hour plus slot delays so aircraft across Europe were being held on the ground at their departure airports - as a result lots of meetings/appointments etc were going to be missed.

On our flight passengers without hold baggage were given the option to disembark....

Doing so is generally OK from a security POV.

There has been a lot of military activity today over the North Sea off the East coast of England - both British and US jets up - plus refuelling aircraft.

Don't know if it is training or if they are tracking something

Looks like training to me.

TBH in the olden Cold war days the North Sea airspace was generally much more busy than it is now, due to all the RAF and USAF bases that in Cold War days were dotted up and down the eastern side of the UK.

Probably is training

Just intrigued that there are 3 from Lakenheath circling parallel with Newcastle - but one keeps vanishing from flight radar - but suddenly it pops up again.

@Lunde

The F-15 / Hawk pair?

Those Hawks are run by an outfit that provides targets/dissimilar types for the USAF to practice against so that's definitely training.

The popping into and out of coverage might simply be happening when an aircraft drops below the bottom of Flight Radars coverage over that part of the water.

Thanks for the info

Bit more here:

https://www.ravnaero.com/aircraft

I do laugh at the idea of the passengers getting to vote. If it’s anything like my dh deciding what he wants for dinner, the plane would have run out of fuel long before they finished voting 😁

“Anyone that would like to disembark please go to the rear of the plane. There are 50 parachutes and it’s a first come first serve basis. If there is more than 50 that want to disembark, we will pick names out of a hat.”

And then you'd get people in the press pulling Daily Fail sad faces "my mates dog's aunt said it was a bit gusty at home so we decided to get off, now we're stuck*"

*insert go fund me link