New information has been added to the post.
Major airports face disruptions from snow, sleet and extreme weather during the deep winter season. If you flew through New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport in the last year, you may have bad memories of the bomb storm that shut down the biggest gateway to the U.S.
You know the pain of winter weather delays if you transit through Chicago's O'Hare International Airport frequently. LHR is also not immune. You might have found yourself on an airplane sitting on a taxiway waiting as snow fell. You have had your flight canceled.
Poor weather is going to be a problem in the Great Plains, Midwest and East Coast as another storm develops just in time for Christmas.
Travelers have to deal with the disruption at the airport, but what about pilots?
Do you want more airline specific news? You can sign up for the newsletter.
How do these weather events look from the cockpit? How do airline pilots deal with winter weather? Do pilots fear weather more than other people? For the answers, we turned to an expert who is a pilot for a major international airline and has flown all over the world.
He told us about flying in the cold. He was not named so he could speak freely. We only edited for a short while. He said what he had to say.
There are different types of weather. The departure and approach can be affected by strong winds. We must fly into the wind to keep track of the runway. The test of our skills comes when the plane is just a few feet above the ground. We have to use one of the approved techniques to keep the plane in the air. Ask a pilot what their favorite part of their job is and most will tell you a good crosswind landing.
You can sign up for our newsletter.
The fog makes us think. You need to bring your "A" game when you are hurtling down the runway at 195 miles per hour. Procedures for situations like this make sure that everyone is safe.
The biggest challenge to our skills is snow and ice.
pilots are thinking about the challenges ahead while you are in a cab Extra attention is required on bad-weather days.
There is a lot of focus on weather during pilot training. We are taught from a very young age to respect the weather and not to take any chances. The power of Mother Nature is immense.
The amount of snow is heavy. The temperature is not known. What type of weather is it? The wind is doing something. Before we get to the airport, we'll have a lot of questions in our heads.
Contamination on the flying surfaces is the biggest threat to flight safety. Any snow or ice on the ground can affect the performance of the aircraft.
The aircraft needs to move away from the runway. The engines only create the forward motion when the air is flowing. The speed needed to lift off is calculated by the pilots. The weight of the aircraft, weather and runway conditions are used to calculate this. The aircraft rotates into the air when we reach this speed.
The speed is based on the wing being free of snow and ice. The calculated Vr speed can be too slow due to the build-ups on the flight surfaces.
One of the pilots walks around the plane to make sure it's in tip top shape. A big part of this is to see what is happening in the snow. The engines, wings, and external sensors are all under scrutiny. If you see a pilot looking out of a cabin window, it is a good sign that the wing is sound.
We know the de-icing procedure to follow to make the plane safe to fly. The worst case is always considered if there is any doubt as to how bad theContamination is. It's better to have too much de-icing.
We want to be with our family and friends as much as possible. We are aware of the fact that we can pull in the opposite direction of safety if we don't stay on time. We need to manage that balance.
We know you have connections because you are sitting at the gate. You have meetings. You just want to go home. Aviation history is filled with incidents where pilots cut corners to save time, only to regret it later on.
De-icing takes a long time.
There are two ways an aircraft can be de-iced, one of which is shutting down the engines at the gate. This is dependent on the airport and what it has to offer. Most airports have remote de-icing facilities. The Montreal-Trudeau International Airport is one of the examples. Newark Liberty International Airport, which only experiences these conditions a few times a year, has trucks that de-ice planes at the gate.
I can already hear you asking why Newark doesn't just have better facilities. It's a matter of space and costs. It takes up a lot of space to have a remote de-icing pad. Would you spend thousands of dollars on a fancy electric snow-clearing device for your home if you knew that a shovel would be good for a few days a year?
Depending on the amount of snow and ice on the plane, the de-icing process can take from a few minutes to 30 minutes. Delays build up quickly when there are only a limited number of trucks.
We are relaxing in the flight deck. You can't haste these things. When the de-icing is done, let the professionals do their job.
The clock is about to run out. It is only a matter of time before the snow is on the wing again. The holdover time is when we figure out how long we have before we have to leave. This time is determined by the de-icing fluid used, the temperature and precipitation.
There seems to be a race against time in this situation to get airborne, but we are the ones who make sure the plane is safe. We have to return to be de-iced if the taxi takes too long to get to the runway. We are doing everything we can to keep you safe.
The de-icing of aircraft is related.
Our focus increases once we get to the runway. Air traffic control is something we listen closely to. We have to build a mental picture of where other aircraft are when we can't see landings because of poor visibility.
ATC should use English as the official language of aviation. If we listen to the instructions given to other aircraft, we can tell if one is going to land or not.
The runway conditions will be given to us by ATC. Depending on how slippery the runway is and how much snow there is.
Different types of snow can be seen. It can be either wet or dry. The air temperature is the most important factor. Sometimes it is possible to take off with snow on the runway if the snow is very dry. If the runway is slippery, this is a problem.
A roller on the back of a vehicle can be used to measure how slippery the runway is. The pilots who use this information to work out their aircraft's performance for takeoff and landing are the ones who pass this information on.
The slippery runway is caused by the wet snow. When the air temperature isn't too cold, this is a typical snowstorm in the U.S. The runway needs to be treated with anti-ice when it is slippery.
We can do very little except wait during this time. It's all for your safety.
We are always checking the weather to make sure the performance we calculated is still valid. We have to redo the calculations if things have changed.
When the aircraft is free from all snow and ice, we will tell ATC we are ready for departure.
We want to be sure that we will take off safely when we line up on that runway. Even if you are late, we make sure you get to your destination safely.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
