Alright, I'll call a personal truce here if you guys can remain civil in kind.
Thats mighty big of you - considering you took off the civil gloves and started flingin mud and insults in the first place mate! Talk about chutzpah!
Something also has to be done about the antagonistic culture that has now become part of being an Australian controller. The apology sticky on the top of the Dunnunder Godzone is indicative of a pervasive behaviour that we have seen on these boards for several years now
Well, thats a good start to being civil, declaring those who disagree with you to posessing a universal culture of arrogance!. [Anyhow, I think the lady in question in that apology actually admits to
not being a pilot or controller, but someone who works for CASA - no?]
Antagonistic? Arrogant? Have you got a mirror in one of your Caribbean beach houses mate?
Your bragging shows just how insecure you are that your arguments cannot stand on their own merit - but require the embelishment of trotting out your CV of experience and personal treasures with every post as if to proclaim: "I am right - you are all wrong because I have more toys". To coin an oft touted phrase of late - it's Un-Australian. More importantly, it makes them even less convincing.
I really wonder what they made of you when you went to the TRACON and told them all how to do it - yes, you sure do remind me of someone.
Anyhow, I have got to go change the oil and plugs on my "Kingswood", and check on my "Coopers" home brew before I mount my 1979 "Malvern Star" for a quick peddle down to the milk bar to get some "tally-ho's".
I might not be back for a week. In the meanwhile, why not see just how well the US system really works:
http://www.avoiddelays.com/
Or perhaps you can absorb your quivering anticipation of my return with some research:
NEW YORK (AP) -- Getting out of New York is never easy, but no one has been having a tougher time leaving the city's gravitational pull lately than travelers on Comair.
Twenty-five of the nation's 50 most frequently delayed flights in September were Comair planes to or from Kennedy Airport, according to a monthly U.S. Transportation Department report.
The absolute worst? Comair Flight 5283.
The evening rush hour jet from JFK to Washington Reagan National Airport landed late 100 percent of the time in September.
Planes flying the route arrived an average of 79 minutes behind schedule, on a trip that involves less than an hour of flying time. Three of the 30 scheduled flights were canceled altogether.
The delays are blamed on several factors, including chronic congestion at New York's airports.
The delays made for a frustrating month for frequent fliers like Anthony Marcus, who was on three delayed Comair flights in September while traveling between New York and his home in Washington.
Marx blamed the airline's performance on steadily worsening congestion in the Northeast, where Comair flies an ambitious schedule on some of the most heavily trafficked routes.
This year, New York's three major airports are expected to handle a record 104 million passengers, up from 81.1 million in 2002, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
All three -- JFK, Newark Liberty International and LaGuardia -- already rank among the airports with the nation's worst on-time records, although their delays aren't quite as bad as those at Atlanta, Chicago and Philadelphia.
The Port Authority has warned that things may only get worse.
"Understand that this is the most congested airspace in the world," said spokesman Pasquale DiFulco. "We know growth is coming, and we only have so much airspace, and you can only fit so many planes in the sky."
At peak operation, JFK can handle a takeoff or landing every 45 seconds, but these days that is often not enough. On many weeknights, dozens of planes wait in hour-long lines for an available runway.
Flight 5283's taxi time at JFK averaged 73 minutes per trip in September. Thirteen of those oft-delayed flights actually left the gate on time or early, but still wound up waiting for as long as an hour and 42 minutes to take off.
And for all its troubles, Flight 5283 was only marginally worse than several other Delta Connection flights at JFK.
Coming in at No. 2 and No. 3 on the least-on-time list were weekday Comair flights from JFK to Atlanta and Buffalo, each of which was late more than 95 percent of the time. No. 4 was a Comair flight to JFK from Washington Reagan.
"It's like you're being held hostage," said Christine Perkins, a frequent Delta flier from Medford, Massachusetts, who recently suffered through a 2 1/2-hour delay at JFK while waiting for a Comair connecting flight to Boston. "These days, it seems like all you need are a couple drops of rain to cause a delay."
Hmm - so what do the FAA attribute delays to?:
FAA website:
Delays occur every day at every major U.S. airport. Schedules are made to reduce operating costs and maximize revenue without regard for other airlines, terminal airspace or airport capacity. At “peak” times, dozens of planes are simultaneously taxiing for take-off or queuing above the airport in a finite amount of terminal airspace. This is where the laws of physics kick in. Given runway capacity, only certain number of flights can depart and arrive within a specified time period. Therefore, scheduling during peak hours contributes to delays at busy airports even in good weather. All scheduled flights will not be able to arrive on time. Responsible scheduling of flights within airport capacity limits will go a long way toward alleviating delays. (My underlining)
So it seems, the same physics that occur in Australia, actually (gasp!) occur in the United States of Higgins as well.
Source: airguideonline.com
Ground Stop
Weather causes 75% of all delays. But this summer, many delays have been due simply to poor coordination between the FAA's regional air-traffic-control centers and to ham-handed recovery efforts after storms, say FAA managers and airline operations officials.
At times, regional centers unilaterally halt the flow of airplanes, often without even telling the central command center, the FAA says. Instead of employing less-restrictive delays, overloaded controllers have been quicker to order "ground stops" that leave planes loaded with passengers and parked without a scheduled departure time.
And frequently this summer, controllers seeking to better manage their growing workload have imposed 60-mile separation requirements between airplanes; five miles is the standard minimum separation for planes cruising at high altitudes.
"It's the FAA"
"Gridlock is not a problem for the future -- it is happening now, today, as we speak," says Gordon Bethune, chairman and chief executive of Continental Airlines. Continental's flight attendants now hand out cards after a delay of one hour, saying that the aircraft is under the control of the FAA once it leaves the gate and urging customers to write to Congress about air-traffic problems.
In a review of FAA and airline operations conducted by a joint committee of FAA evaluators and airline officials, the group uncovered numerous instances where controllers were slowing traffic based on inaccurate information, or simply for their own convenience.
On the Tarmac
American Flight 362, the 3 o'clock flight, pushed back from its gate at O'Hare with extra fuel on board and the ominous warning of long delays trying to get to New York.
The deck was stacked against that flight in many ways. Planes at big airports are often grounded ahead of those at small airports out of convenience, FAA officials admit. The reason: Controllers can thin out traffic with one phone call to a major airport like O'Hare, rather than calls to six smaller fields like Fort Wayne, Ind.
Planes at Midwest airports also have a tougher time getting a slot on airborne highways when traffic is spread out. When controllers impose 60-mile separation requirements, for example, airways are filled to capacity by flights from the coasts.
Further, Flight 362 had to fly through the FAA's Cleveland traffic-control center, the busiest and most troublesome of the regional centers because it funnels traffic into and out of the Northeast. Because the traffic is so heavy, controllers at Cleveland have at times this year taken the drastic step of imposing 100-mile separation requirements between planes, to make their workload manageable, the FAA says.
The FAA blames the Cleveland problems on a difficult transition to new equipment, frequent storms and heavy volume. The Cleveland center routinely handles 10,000 airplanes a day, the FAA says. Two years ago, 8,000 a day was considered busy and 10,000 was a major event.
The controllers' union says Cleveland-center controllers are simply being safe. "The airlines are getting beat up by their customers, so they point the finger back at the FAA, and a lot of it is undeserved," says Randy Schwitz, an official of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.
With so many planes, delays are inevitable at some airports even in good weather. Newark, N.J., for example, can handle a maximum of 48 arrivals an hour. But some hours, airlines schedule 55 to 60 arrivals, guaranteeing some late arrivals, the FAA says.
With nowhere to go, Flight 362 taxied to a holding pad at O'Hare's Runway 9 Right. Two earlier American flights bound for New York's La Guardia airport were already sitting there waiting. Across the tarmac at United, the 2 p.m. La Guardia departure hadn't bothered to board, and the 3 p.m. had been canceled.
Flight 358 pushed back at 4:22 p.m., American says, and after a relatively routine one-hour delay, took off at 5:25 p.m.
Flight 362 and many other New York-bound flights remained on the Runway 9 Right holding pad. The FAA says it offered the long Southern routing to two American planes sitting on the holding pad at 5:52 p.m. But because of a lack of fuel -- they had been idling for more than three hours already -- they declined.
By 6 p.m., passengers aboard the still-stranded 3 p.m. departure were growing increasingly angry. The FAA says its specialists at the central command center were trying to work out a new route, but couldn't. The plane taxied back to a gate at 6:55 p.m. to unload a few furious customers who no longer wanted to make the trip.
On the way back in, the captain heard on the radio that routes to New York were soon opening up. But rather than risk further passenger rage, the captain decided to head to the gate.
(my bolding - 48 an hour at Newark? Why so few Chris? They have a LOT of concrete!)
