Thomas Cook TCX1639 Low fuel divert 20/3/15
Hi All
Apologies if this is posted in the wrong forum
I am a a rare poster so be gentle!!! I work in GA so am not totally aware of how things operate at the pointed end.... However after an interesting flight ome from my holiday last night I was just looking for clearer understanding of the situation I found myself in.
We departed an hour late from Hurghada last night at 1810 local time... appanently they took an hour to open the cargo door from the incoming flight because if was 'frozen' shut.
After a flight with headwinds we landed at 'Gatwick' which, when I looked out of the window saw was Stanstead.
After the hostie anounced we had landed at Gatwick the Captain announced we had diverted to Stanstead , with accompaning emergency services, because he didnt have enough fuel to hold for the 20 mins he was being told/requested to at gatwick..
He then announced that unless he could refuel and push back in 10 minutes he was out of time to fly us anywhere but was doing his best ( I was never convinced we would be flying anywhere)
we then had an onboard medical eergency and eventually were dumped in the terminal at about midnight after being onboard for about an hour and a half ( we were also told the terminal was to full to let us off!) with no reps from the company we were told to make our way home by some poor overun swissport rep because he said no one from TC was available.... there was also the Manchester flight there too which also diverted in on its way back from Hurghada with another medical emergency we are told.
Luckily we got the last taxi leaving behind 100's of stranded passengers.
So my question is
Is this standard practice to cut fuel levels so low so as to arrive home practiacally out of limits with no provision for a 20 minute hold or, have the headwinds caused unforseen problems ? Why couldnt he call for a straight in approach at LGW which was still closer than Stanstead?
Even when we landed the capatain was pratctically out of time so this to seems to have been cutting it fine.... I guess to and from Hurghada is a 10 hour stint but I am not sure how hours are worked out...
According to flight radar it seems we turned north somewhere around Maidstone, i guess when the decisison was made...
As I say i apologize if this is the wrong forum but I am just interested to learn more about the situation and how these carriers operate.
Many Thanks