How often did you have to divert to an alternate A/D ?

[RMarvin86]

It's always interesting to read about other people's flight experiences and often it gives you something to think and learn about it.
What about scenarios in which you were forced to divert to an alternate aerodrome due to Wx, contingency, airport closure or any other reason.
I'll start. Total time 47 hours and diverted once at the middle of my PPL course during a dual flight due to CB and TS in the vicinity of the field. Landed at a nearby airport, about 15 miles, after making one attempt to approach our destination aerodrome. Not much of a story but was really instructive as we dealed with inflight decision making and adverse weather flying.
Hope to read some interesting stories!
Staying tuned! :ok:

[bucket_and_spade]

Had to do it on my CPL QXC in Arizona. Plan was to fly from Goodyear to Tucson to Yuma and then back to Goodyear. Was on the Tucson - Yuma leg with a row of CBs way off on the horizon (seemingly over Yuma).

Slowly the cloud started to roll in and I had to keep descending - when I got to a few thousand feet above the ground (having been originally at around 8000'), still with a long way to go and the wx still getting worse, I thought sod it and decided it wasn't going to happen today.

It was pretty straighforward to turn and head back towards Goodyear. I knew I needed two land-aways to complete the CPL requirements (I'd easily meet the distance requirement) so after initially heading towards Goodyear I decided to jink left a bit and divert to Glendale, which was something like 10 miles further on, on the outskirts of Phoenix city, and ending up there would tick all of the CPL boxes. Job done :ok:

Not a very exciting story as I was fat with fuel and there was no drama - just a bumpy ride back what with the weather and being fairly low of hot desert terrain!

[London Flyer]

Twice this year: once en route from Tempelhof to Malmö, diverted to Rügen due thunderstorm over the sea. What a welcome diversion - a fantastic asphalt 800m lighted runway, superb Wienerschnitzel from the restaurant and modern, clean facilities. Beats 99% of British airfields.

The other diversion was to Mortagne (LFAX) - also due weather - where we were met by a curious welcoming committee. After cranking up the flying club computer (running Windows 95 no less!) and seeing that the weather at Caen was clearing up, we continued on our way. Getting out of LFAX in the Archer with 3 on board, a moderate amount of luggage and on a warm day ate up all bar the last 20 metres of the runway.

[RatherBeFlying]

One year we were flying to Oshkosh from Toronto when a forecast line of CBs got in the way in mid-Michigan; so, landed a comfortable distance before to have time to tie down before getting soaked. Hailed cab for restaurant and then proceeded to motel.

That's been my one "diversion" with power. In a glider running out of lift has produced 3 "diversions", 2 into farmer's fields and one into a cropduster strip.

[Zulu Alpha]

I have diverted once or twice per year. Mainly driven by the need to fly cross country to get to an aerobatic competition in an aircraft with just an airspeed and altimeter and no stability ie if you take your hands off it will roll inverted.

However, I normally plan my cross country routes via the overheads at airfields so that I can turn back and have a bolt hole if the weather gets worse than forecast. 20-30nm legs seem to work well.
Most times I find conditions to be better than forecast and it would have meant cancelling trips/competitions if I relied solely on the Met.

ZA

[A and C]

Thrice in a light aircraft, the first to avoid a line of CB,s. The second because LFAT,s runway had been invaded by gypsys. The third when flying Prague- EGTB, the MET forcast wind was utter fiction and the unforcast head wind resulted in the aircraft only having enough range to get to Manston, so I stopped at Maastrict (coz the fuel was cheaper!).

[Pace]

Quite a few times. Mainly because the weather has dropped below minima.
I fly around London a lot Fog at Southend usually means you get into Biggin which is high up. Biggin which is high up usually gets low cloud which means a diversion onto the Ils at Farnborough or Southend.

Strong headwinds a couple of times for fuel concerns.

Mechanical problems a few times too.

Passengers changing plans mid air a few times too

Ill passenger twice

Pace

[Fuji Abound]

My last diversion was into Gatwick on one engine.

Previoulsy, Lyneham, when the fuel cap came adrift, Bristol coming back from Ireland when the destination went below minima, Goodwood with fog at the destination, somewhere in France (I cant remember) when a line of thunderstorms prevented going south. Probably one or two others over the years that I have forgotten about.

[IO540]

2 diversions in 8 years. One (pre-IMCR/IR) to Blackbushe due OVC006 at destination. The other, recent, to Lydd, due OVC003/<1000m at destination. Not bad for nearly 1k hours.

[david viewing]

Last month, approaching the Sea of Finland, when suddenly the 'low volt' light came on. No amount of resetting the 'Alt' would restore charging (OK, you should only try that once!). Not fancying the sea crossing to Helsinki without electrics, I made a quick explanation to Sweden control which brought a sympathetic response.

They asked for my mobile no. in case of radio failure and agreed to my turning off the xpndr despite being very close to Arlanda airport. This left just the 430 running, which it did for at least 30 mins. Fortunately I had mugged up on Stockholm Bromma and got direct vectors accordingly. Just before landing the power came back on!

Conclusions: Always revise on possible alternates in foreign countries. Radios will go on working for some time, maybe hours. Turn everything else off. Don't rely on emergency hand held radios - I was carrying one and it was inaudible to the tower. Mobile phone is a far better bet, at low level anyway. Thanks, Sweden control. Oh, and be sure to have a friend already booked on a commercial flight to your destination who can bring a spare alternator in his hand luggage!

[vanHorck]

Twice on one trip.
Once from Bucharest to Linz, diverted to Salzburg due to fog clearing later than expected, and same day en route from Salzburg to Fowlmere into Brussels International due to potential unsafe gear.

Once en route from Fowlmere to Texel into Oostburg due to bladder urges of a passenger.

[Piper.Classique]

Oh, about twice a year on average: usually wx, once a stuck throttle (at 1800 rpm:ugh:) sometimes strong winds or too much xwind on arrival. But I do fly a very basic aircraft reasonable distances :) It's part of the game, isn't it?

[Squeegee Longtail]

En route Key West to Fort Lauderdale, had comms failure and didn't fancy flying in Miami or Lauderdale airspace without radio (I have trouble understanding them even when the radio is working). Diverted to an airfield in North of the Keys (can't remember the name). Did textbook no-comms circuit join & land, only to be met on rollout by a security jeep with "commando" looking guys who escorted me off the runway. Before I had shutdown they were opening the door and interviewing/interrogating me. Seems it was a private airfield for the rich type and didn't like lil' ol Cessnas dropping in unannounced.
They escorted me to the tower and I called the flight club from whom I had rented the aircraft. Once I had fixed the known problem ( jiggled the wires as instructed) I was told to take off immediately and not to land back, even if comms are lost again once airborne.

This was all a long time pre-911. God only knows what those guys would be like now!!

[AC-DC]

Three times in more than 1000h of flying.
First was due to a CB on top of my airfield.
Second was an emergancy due to an engine proble
Third was 5 days after the second due to a shaken pilot who was close to crash into the sea.

[Airbus Girl]

I think only three times in light aircraft as have managed to get back to home airfield with various problems on other occasions. Once was due to poor weather at Sedona (mega gusty winds, completely impossible to land, very rough!, not as forecast!) - turned back to airfield I had flown over a short while back (Plan B) to find it was now out of limits too. So went to Plan C and landed at Phoenix. Once as a "passenger" on a flight with a fuel problem - ie. I realised that we were getting low on fuel before the PIC did and weren't going to make planned airfield. Cue diversion, we just made it. And once, as a student pilot, on my solo long cross country, flew down a valley, viz closed in, couldn't get out of the valley to get over the mountains coz they had all disappeared in the poor viz! Did a 180 to discover it was even worse behind me, so landed at nearest airport (in the valley) and spent the night there! Had never been there before. Not bad for a student long cross country flight!!!

[SNS3Guppy]

It's hard to quantify how often a diversion occurs, because by definition, it's not something one can predict...it can happen any time. During private flying, a few times perhaps. When flying fire, it was a regular thing...very frequently I got sent to a different airport while I was either returning to a fire, over the fire, or on the way back. Doing fractional work, it happened a few times a month...ATC would call us and tell us that the company wanted us somewhere else. I've had customers on board request a diversion a few times. Several diversions for weather, maintenance, etc. One for a passenger in left seat of a light piston twin one night, who had a heart attack. Most recently we diverted to Bahrain out of Kabul, and back to Europe, instead of going to a different intended location, and a few weeks ago we were diverted to Ostend instead of Brussels, and then sent to Brussels anyway when the weather cleared.

[SkyHawk-N]

My diversion history;

- Frying NavCom.
- Low fuel due to stronger than expected headwind.
- Toilet break.
- Mountain wave over the Rockies.
- CBs and thunderstorms.
- Fog.

I diverted only last week. I grabbed the wrong sectional map for the 2nd half of my route and didn't notice till I was airborne and well on the way. Popped into an FBO on the way and purchased a new one.

[IO540]

I find it hard to believe anybody would divert to have a wee. Why not carry a plastic bottle?

[Fuji Abound]

Thinking about it, I diverted once becasue I was bored! Coming back from Scotland, after 3 hours flying I had had enough. Just wanted a cup of coffee and a leg stretch, so I asked if I might pop into Southend. As usual they were most accomodating. The rest of the flight was far more pleasant in consequence. :O

[gpn01]

If by "divert" you mean not completing the flight as intended, and landing somewhere other than the original desitnation, then it's about ten times a year for me - but that's because I fly gliders and sometimes the energy in the sky dies away and I land in a field or find an alternate airfield. That's the thing about gliding...we spend quite a bit of time choosing fields to land in.

[englishal]

Diverted once for a steak ;) IFR in California, decided we were hungry, and only 20 miles from Harris Ranch, a fly in steak restaraunt, so we cancelled IFR, and Oakland Centre gave us vectors. Best steak ever.

Mind you try that in Euroland and you'd have a £1000 bill to deal with. In the US it is easy to divert - you just do it.

[Katamarino]

I've been forced to divert twice, and chosen to a number of times more.

The first forced one was on my PPL QXC in Florida. Flying west from Fort Pierce, the cloud was getting lower and lower, and I went with it down to about 400' (silly inexperienced student!) I decided at this point, finally, that this was a bad plan and turned around, heading south away from the cloud to land at Pahokee and check weather for an alternate route onwards. On returning to Ft Pierce my instructor pointed out that technically my landing was illegal as he had to sign me off in advance for any airport I wished to land at, but agreed it was the right decision! It was during this landing that I came very close to having a 'dog strike', as a I recall...

[Fuji Abound]

On returning to Ft Pierce my instructor pointed out that technically my landing was illegal as he had to sign me off in advance for any airport I wished to land at, but agreed it was the right decision!

Is anything illegal, technically or otherwise, if the safety of the aircraft is at stake? Shirley what you did to get your self into the situation in the first place (flying into IMC when not qualified to do so) might be illegal but what you did to get yourself out of it is another matter. Just musing.

[Katamarino]

I was never IMC, but I was pretty low! And this was the view that both he and I took; common sense decisions over safety should take precedence over the technicalities of the legislation.

[possel]

Four times in 320 hours, each time due to UK weather. I was looked after exceedingly well on three occasions (Cranfield, Denham and Sherburn), and the fourth time no-one knew as it was after closing hours (won't say where)!

And as regards legality, the captain is always, above all, responsible for the safety of his aircraft, passengers and self - if he doesn't look after those, THEN he is "endangering the safety" and that's illegal (and worse than any "technicality", I submit)!

[AfricanEagle]

Twice.

Once due to meteo conditions, landed at a military airfield.

The other time I couldn't find the farmer strip I was meant to spend the night at and diverted to big airport when it got too dark to continue searching :uhoh:

[SkyHawk-N]

I find it hard to believe anybody would divert to have a wee. Why not carry a plastic bottle?

Who said "wee" anyway, jumping to conclusions again IO540? It could have been a young female passenger who didn't want to wee infront of strangers...maybe? Someone could have been ill, couldn't they? :rolleyes:

[Piper.Classique]

I find it hard to believe anybody would divert to have a wee. Why not carry a plastic bottle?

Because I don't have a penis to put in the bottle. Some of us have differently arranged anatomy. And yes, I have before now diverted to use facilities not available in the aircraft.

[SNS3Guppy]

I find it hard to believe anybody would divert to have a wee. Why not carry a plastic bottle?


I surely have diverted and landed for that very reason.

You try working it out in a small single seat cockpit in severe turbulence and see how you fare.

[S-Works]

Don't worry, IO has one of the new long range TB20's soon to be adopted by easyjet. He struggles to understand why the rest of us don't enjoy sitting in a spamcan for 6hrs peeing in a coke bottle in aid of getting to where ever he is heading non stop.

Personally I prefer to meander in my general aviation flying and the journey along with all with all of the stops is what makes the trip worthwhile.

[Fuji Abound]

I have never tried. Not sure I could aim that straight. :)

Mind you there are plenty of pi**ing competitions on here so I bet some of us are better than others :) :).

I have suggested it to my wife and a couple of other girls including my daughter that like to fly even explaining the finer detail, but when they looked absolutely horrified at the idea, I gave it up completly and have had to promise never to mention it again. :} I should add thats them doing the pi**ing, not me, in one of those contraption specially designed for the lady in your life I am told.

Mind you I will always remember taking my son on the flight to Manchester or some where like that when he was very young in the days they didnt have a loo on board - perhaps they still dont. Of course his first question was where is the loo Dad. he was equally horrified to be told there wasnt one. Rest assured the hostie was at pains to say she had had to deal with far far worse.

Hope you had a good trip Bose.

[IO540]

Trust me, I would win any pi**ing competition, with the amount of practice I've had. Twice today, at FL050 :)

Piper.Classique, my apologies ;)

And as regards legality, the captain is always, above all, responsible for the safety of his aircraft, passengers and self - if he doesn't look after those, THEN he is "endangering the safety" and that's illegal (and worse than any "technicality", I submit)!

I agree, but how do you square that with all the various rules about where one can and cannot land. PPR, PPR for Customs, PPR for this and that. Some places (in Europe) you will get into only by declaring a mayday. Tricky! BTW I believe that most airports that are "PPR" are probably acting illegally.

[PlasticPilot]

I can remember five of them over 360 hours:

One because of low visibility on a VFR flight shortly after getting my PPL
One return to home, VFR, because of a failed alternator
Twice on alpine VFR flights because of cloud obstructed passes
One going IFR to Zurich (LSZH). The weather there was below CAT I minimas, and did not lift as expected.

[Romeo Tango]

Not yet this year.

[Fuji Abound]

He struggles to understand why the rest of us don't enjoy sitting in a spamcan for 6hrs peeing in a coke bottle in aid of getting to where ever he is heading non stop.

Bose - you are not conceeding that you are not up to the pi**ing competition are you? :)

[Airbus Girl]

Anyway, returning to the subject......

There was another time I diverted - spent a long time planning a return route from the Florida Keys up to the north and out of Florida. Got the weather - was told CAVOK or thereabouts until northern Florida. Took off from KLey West. Got as far as Marathon (which is the next airfield). Noted rather large CBs ahead. Landed, called for an update on the weather. Told CAVOK on route. Hmmm I said, that is strange because there appear to be a whole load of CBs ahead. When they updated their weather radar they agreed with me!!!! So stopped a night there and tried again next day. Storms moving in, were to the north west of Florida. So decided to hotfoot it up into the north of Florida and keep updated on their movement. Got as far as Pensacola I think it was, before deciding those large CBs were getting a little too close. Landed, nightstopped and got out next morning. It was a bargain too - free car, and abouit $20 for a large motel room in town.

[tuscan]

I too have diverted to make use of facilities only to find there were none and a quick scamper off to the nearest bushes was the best option.
Flying with a full bladder is one of the most stressful experiences of my life and I will always divert rather than suffer.
At 6ft,4 the thought of using a recepticle in a light aircraft does not appeal to me and I dont think my passengers would appreciate it......

Anyway, the diversion was into Plockton whilst routing to Broadford (Isle of Skye). For those in the know there is only a few minutes between the two but the situation was becoming desperate.:\

Another was into Oban whilst routing from Inverness to Islay, this time it was a squeemish passenger that spent too much time staring into their camera and not enough time looking out at the scenery.:yuk:

[S-Works]

Bose - you are not conceeding that you are not up to the pi**ing competition are you?

When it comes to pissing in a plastic bottle, I acknowledge 100% that Peter is the king of the hill.....
:p