BHX Delays
 

According to local BBC there has been lots of delays from BHX this morning. Now while I can see some white stuff outside it didn't seem enough to cause much disruption or is there something else giving problems.

Much the same at EMA
 

Nothing out of EMA until after eight this morning, God help us if this winter becomes the first proper winter (readers under 25 will need to google winter of 47,63 or 85) for some years.

It would be ironic to see a foot of snow and Landrover group on a two day week!!!

Has there been an ATC probleminthe Midlands area?

No flights left BHX or EMA until after 0800 this morning and it's not the snow - as there is not a flake of it in Castle Donington.

Any info Almost Prof???

"Adverse weather conditions" stated on BBC Travel. :confused:

Have they used Gatwick's anti-freeze supply? :}

What was so different about the weather last night compared to the past week - it has been -1'c and lower every night for the past week.

Dont know how true but it has been said once snow was cleared from birmingham. De icing fluid then froze. Some people saying they put water down but cant see that being true.

Last night and this morning much of the Midlands & SE UK experienced temps well below freezing first part of the night, then it rose to just above freezing with cloud cover and light wet snow, then dropped below freezing again. Difficult conditions for any airport.

I think you're being a bit too kind. These weather conditions were forecast and let's face it, we're not exactly talking apocalyptic here!

The fact is, a light dusting of snow seems to catch everyone on the hop in Blighty.

No weeds @ BHX this morning
 

Rumours rife this morning in Birmingham that airfield operations mistakenly applied weed killer to the runway in the early hours, instead of de-icing fluid, which froze over causing the runway to remain closed until 0830z !!

Failure to Learn!!!
 

BHX failed to learn the lessons from LGW a few weeks ago and a "weakened" de icing mixture was deployed last night, resulting in the closure of the runway for 4 hrs this morning & quite a few Red faces.:rolleyes:
Topped with that is the light smattering of white stuff that would have caused the antique snow clearence equipment at BHX a problem anyway if not for the de-icing cock up.
Will they never learn??:ugh::ugh:

Posted on Flight Deck Rumours & News that they put down weed killer instead of de-icing. Only a rumour so far but it is what PPRune's for.

Thread already going on this in Airports.

We also heard from handling and company operations that airfield ops sprayed weed killer instead of de-icing fluid early this morning ...

Brum usually has a major de-ice cockup or two every year !

As usual a bunch of idiots posting...Surprise Surprise....No weed killer laid. No weakened fluid....
No mistakes
Anti-icing done in plenty of time.
etc. etc. etc.
Now lets put all that silly stuff to bed eh?

Nature won....again and probably will in the future...

I blame the Ecomaniacs......The old de-icing fluid was great, but apparently destroyed the environment?????

call100, that is very strange because we were told that it was weed killer iso antifreeze. I don't think the FR and BE that were sat on the taxiways of T2 with engines running for 20 odd minutes were very happy about it. The FR captain was even less impressed when he got caught in the snow shower that came through just after everyone was cleared to go and had to wait for deicing for the second time this morning, as well as more fuel to make up for the stuff he wasted first time he pushed. I'm sure MOL has already been on the phone asking for a refund:)

Hate to upset someone, but if weed killer was put down the runway would probably still be solid sheet of ice at midday.

Regardless of the weedkiller or not surely it's a bit pathetic that a light dusting of snow with a sharp frost should cause so much delay. If it had been a big surprise then that's one thing but it has hardly been ISA+ the last few days.

groundhogbhx.
How is it strange???
It's not true that either weed killer or a weakened solution was used ...It is not true that Anti Icing was done too late.
This is fact not rumour........:ugh:

de-Iced too Late!!
 

Call100 If the de-icing was done too late, then is someone getting thier arse kicked for it, the -8 temperatures did'nt exactly sneak up on the airfield & leap on the runway did they? they were forecast even showing i believe on the BHX Fids system?

The re-opening was a shambles as well, ATC advise a 0900 re-open so airlines decide to offload passengers then at 0810 its "were open again" all the FR's already waiting on the taxiways, how much of MOL's call to Paul Kehoe was that due too!!

By the way its forecast poss Snow/Snow rain (why cant they just say sleet?) between 0200 & 0800 tommorrow morning, any chance of someone getting it right this time?:rolleyes:

De-icing was not done too late, it didn't work!
ATC advised a 09.00 opening because that was the time the airport published in a NOTAM.
Further de-icing was carried out with the 'proper stuff' and the runway opened at 08.15.