WHBM
23rd Dec 2008, 10:39
Thanks to all the team for the efforts in getting BA 84 away from Vancouver on Sunday 21 December. From what we could see it was one of only a couple of departures that actually managed it that evening from CYVR.
The snowfall had gone on for the best part of 24 hours and the whole city was covered. The inbound BA aircraft arrived to a snow-covered ramp already littered with aircraft frosted over and many cancellations. On boarding we could see big issues with the baggage and freight tractors taking for ever to get the freight dollies going through the snow
Pushback took nearly an hour, as the tractor slithered and lost traction. Of course a loaded 747 is not a handy thing to push round at right-angles in these conditions, and we performed an equivalent of about a 53-point turn, forwards and backwards, to finally get oriented on the taxiway. Guys were out hand-shovelling a path for us, and everyone just plugged on under the still-falling snow. There was a China Airlines A340 at the next gate which we would inch cautiously forwards towards, then back into the snow again until sticking, then forward again, gaining a couple of degrees turning in the process. More shovelling, and repeat.
It wasn't as if the airport was not making the effort itself, out of the windows could be seen a big operation with echelon snowploughing, excavators loading up snow into a convoy of dump trucks, etc. But the snow quantity just overwhelmed everything.
And so our BA crew stayed at it when most others might have cancelled, and indeed had done so, like the competition's flight to London. After putting more de-icer on than I have seen used in a long, long time the 20.45 STD turned into an 01.30 wheels up, but we were off and away. When we might have been lining up for whatever hotel accommodation remained, if any, we were sipping drinks, having dinner, and looking down at northern Alberta passing below.
Also a specific word of thanks also for all those Servisair ramp guys we could see working out there, pushing at baggage carts stuck in the drifts and handling in the blizzard those open-cab baggage tractors that North American airports seem to like. From our warm seats we looked on them steadily plodding on long after shift-finish time. When the contract at Vancouver comes up for renewal by Waterside I hope they recall the day when their team got BA away while everyone else was just stuck.
Thanks all.
The snowfall had gone on for the best part of 24 hours and the whole city was covered. The inbound BA aircraft arrived to a snow-covered ramp already littered with aircraft frosted over and many cancellations. On boarding we could see big issues with the baggage and freight tractors taking for ever to get the freight dollies going through the snow
Pushback took nearly an hour, as the tractor slithered and lost traction. Of course a loaded 747 is not a handy thing to push round at right-angles in these conditions, and we performed an equivalent of about a 53-point turn, forwards and backwards, to finally get oriented on the taxiway. Guys were out hand-shovelling a path for us, and everyone just plugged on under the still-falling snow. There was a China Airlines A340 at the next gate which we would inch cautiously forwards towards, then back into the snow again until sticking, then forward again, gaining a couple of degrees turning in the process. More shovelling, and repeat.
It wasn't as if the airport was not making the effort itself, out of the windows could be seen a big operation with echelon snowploughing, excavators loading up snow into a convoy of dump trucks, etc. But the snow quantity just overwhelmed everything.
And so our BA crew stayed at it when most others might have cancelled, and indeed had done so, like the competition's flight to London. After putting more de-icer on than I have seen used in a long, long time the 20.45 STD turned into an 01.30 wheels up, but we were off and away. When we might have been lining up for whatever hotel accommodation remained, if any, we were sipping drinks, having dinner, and looking down at northern Alberta passing below.
Also a specific word of thanks also for all those Servisair ramp guys we could see working out there, pushing at baggage carts stuck in the drifts and handling in the blizzard those open-cab baggage tractors that North American airports seem to like. From our warm seats we looked on them steadily plodding on long after shift-finish time. When the contract at Vancouver comes up for renewal by Waterside I hope they recall the day when their team got BA away while everyone else was just stuck.
Thanks all.