This morning a Q400 flew all the way down to LST, then due wx diverted back to MEL.
The wx at the time in HBA was VFR, something like METAR YMHB 202230 01007KT 9999 FEW 040 07/03 Q1024, no threat of fog at all, VFR all morning.

FCST good too.

This is not a criticism of the crew at all but why didn’t they divert to HBA? A lot easier to recover the 79 nm back to LST and the pax could even drive back if needed..... going all the way back to MEL seems a little excessive and time wasting.

Any ideas on QLink policy?

If the Wx was marginal before they left MEL, no doubt the crew would have sought guidance from ops as to where they would prefer them to divert to, fuel permitting.

The company would usually prefer the plane and crew to end up back in a main base and then rebook passengers on later flights.

If the 400 is full, can it carry the gas to do a Launy, divert to Hobart AND make it back to Melbourne?

Wouldn't it just get fuel in Hobart?

ACMS, the decision about where to divert to is not so much driven by a quick recovery, but by what the day holds for the crew and aircraft.

Might be a quick 79 nm to Hobart, but how long do you sit there waiting for the weather to improve in Launy?

often it is preferable for the operation as a whole to bring the machine and crew back to Melbourne (or other mainline port) and shift the punters onto a later flight, leaving the airframe and crew to do something else.

having them sit in HBA for an undetermined amount of time just causes grief and screws the crew’s duty for the remainder of the day as well as the airframe, particularly if there are things like maintenance planned for the machine at night, which if it ends up out of sequence and overnights somewhere else causes headaches.

Why not DPO and bus the pax over to Launceston?

CLX, prob the same reason, aircraft has to sit on the ground while they rustle up a bunch of coaches to take the pax waiting at Launy over to Devonport.

Finding a fleet of busses at short notice isn’t cheap and isn’t quick, so time wise it is often easier to get the punters back to ML and deal with them in the terminal and get them back on your own metal later in the day.

Snakecharma: weather at LST was ok by the time they were half way back to MEL. Bad luck I guess but it just doesn’t make sense to divert back to MEL, I’ll bet they refueled in MEL and went back to LST with the same Aircraft and crew.

I can’t see the problem diverting to HBA as long as the weather is ok, which it was. Followed by a quick gas and go back to LST, they could have been on the ground in LST before they’d even left MEL and maybe only about 1 hour late overall. 1 hour late won’t screw up the duty hours or Aircraft rotation schedule surely. I guess using 20/20 hindsight is a wonderful thing!! But the Fog/low cloud would have been bound to lift fairly quickly.

I’ve been flying for quite a while and done my share of diversions so I’m aware of all the operational considerations. Anyway I don’t have the background info in this case, just curious as to why a Dash 8 wouldn’t hold a close suitable Alternate. I guess Ops have other ideas.

Maybe the CN had an ex wife in HBA he didn’t want to see:p

Different crew did the return service.

Always felt a bit boxed in heading to HBA if everything in the north was socked in ?

Yes because HBA is just so remote......:D

Should have mentioned I was in a chieftain in those days . He he .