Originally Posted by
Rivet Joint
So today’s EasyJet/SOU weirdness is the arrival being diverted to Luton (pre-planned way in advance by the looks of it) and the departure from SOU cancelled. I bet all those who chose to fly from their local airport rather than LGW will not make the same mistake again. If SOU cannot handle one airbus a day then they might as well just throw in the towel with any future plans. You would think the airport was based in the North Pole with the amount of issues they have with ops. Shambles.
I live four miles NE of SOU and mid-morning wind gusts here were force 10, causing widespread damage to trees - including the tree in my garden! Force 10 is 52 knots and the absolute maximum crosswind performance for an A320 is 38 knots landing, 29 knots on take off, so clearly it could not have operated safely at any airport anywhere in such conditions. The wind in South Hampshire today has been extreme to say the least, with the isobars very locally being squeezed just in the immediate area by low pressure just east of London, and low pressure to the north west, and there is nothing that could have been done to mitigate the circumstances and avoid the diversions. Clearly not SOU’s fault on this occasion.