Some days - rant on BMI
 

was waiting for BMI BD85 11.05 from Belfast to London today. It was foggy at Belfast but Ryanair and Flybe seemed to be having no problems.

After wondering where our aircraft was we are told that it has diverted to international for fuel.

Then we are left wondering when it will get back to City. Nothing.

The BD 87 turns up. Yhey have a medical emergency and so that is delayed.
We are then told that 85 departed International at 13.05 with an ETA of 13.15.

13.25 it turns up, presume they got lost. They had deplaned the passengers from the inbound at International, so we had an empty aircraft to board. From the flightdeck we are told the delay was due to the fog at Belfast City. Must be a VMC only crew.:ugh:

Eventual departure was 14:00.

Touched at LHR and 14.55 and taxyed to a parking spot nearer Hounslow than T1. Looking out of the window there were buses waiting for us. But we had a 15 minute for steps.

A complete and utter shambles, I presume the BMI crew and or aircraft was not up to a Low vis approach at Belfast.

A lot of angry passengers and a lot of missed connections.

For me it was just another trashed day along with another day's parking charges.

Unfortunetaly fog will often cause disruptions to air traffic movements. It affects air traffic control flow rates which restricts the number of arrivals, departures and ground movements that can be accommodated in any given period of time during the affected period. In foggy weather conditions the reported visibility often fluctuates. This can result in periods when the reported visibility is below that required to legally commence an approach.

During such times an inbound aircrafts crew may elect to take up a holding pattern to await an improvement, or they may elect to divert if either their own assesment or their available fuel reserves dictate that course of action.

The diversion airport may only be "10 minutes" away from the intended destination, but it is not quite that simple in the real world. There are taxiing times (increased in poor visibility,) departure (SID) routes, arrival (STAR) routes, radar sequencing for seperation and streaming, as well as additional spacings that might be generated as a result of other delayed inbound arrivals, that would easily increase the actual flight time between two nearby airports. Despite your frustrations, the crew would not have "got lost" nor are there any such things as "VMC only crews."

35 minutes is a very good turnaround time. Particularly when you consider that despite the fact the aircraft was empty and fuelled, its departure was still subject to an Air traffic control slot at a weather affected airport.

Waiting for steps at your arrival airport, is usually a failing on the part of the handling agency or airport operator. Being on a remote stand at an airport like Heathrow, can often result in delays in getting ground equipment to that stand. This is particularly so when the stand is a last minute change, because the intended stand is still occupied by another aircraft, that is running late possibly because of ATC restrictions it is also subjected to.

I can understand your annoyance and frustration, but being some 2 hours and 55 minutes late as a result of adverse weather conditions and a consequencial diverted inbound flight, isn't the biggest tragedy I have ever heard of. The crew of this flight would have been just as displeased at the disruptions caused to them and their passengers, and by the sound of it did all they could to minimize the disruption and keep the customers as informed as they could.

It is unfortunate, but that is bad weather for you! Planes, trains, ferries, you name it, they all get affected by fog, snow, high winds etc.

That's life, fog happens, get used to it.

Check the start of the BA lessons 101 thread for what can go wrong even at a dedicated terminal in good weather.

Unfortunately, nature is still capable of disrupting and even destroying what man can create and plane, but as a species, we have a blinkered view that these things should only have to happen to others, and never us.

EGAC 201120Z 19005KT 2400 R22/1200 VCFG OVC001 M02/M02 Q0996

EGAC 201050Z VRB03KT 0900 R22/1100 FZFG VV/// M02/M02 Q0996

BHD is a Cat 1 approach.

If your BD crew pitched up at the wrong time it may have been when the weather precluded a landing.