Originally Posted by
danielcork1
Is flying into a large international hub much more strenuos and stressful than flying into a small regional airport? Are ops into and out of supesairports like O'Hare very difficult and would they be given only to the most senior captains?
Providing the airport has no serious terrain problems (Salzburg springs to mind where special training is required) big airports are just as easy as small airports, sometimes even easier. If you're a Captain then you're a Captain and you go anywhere - end of story
As we taxied out onto 4L we suddenly stopped, it didn't seem as if we were on any major taxiway and for 30mins the plane was just sitting there! Eventually with no explanation we moved off and within a few minutes we were airborne. Would this be a case of the aircraft losing its slot at JFK? If so, isn't it unfair that planes get punished for a delay that was beyond their control (i.e the winds)?
It's quite possible that you would have been allocated a flow management slot after your Flight Plan had been refiled with the new ETD. If this happens at major airports you then have the problem that you're occupying a stand that may be required by someone else. So - standard procedure is to load you up, taxy you to a remote hold until your slot becomes 'live' and then let you go. It's not a case of being punished, more down to the capacity of the en-route ATC sectors at the planned time of your departure. For example - if they can only take 60 aircraft per hour, and you're number 64 planned to go in that hour then you get shunted into the next hour.