Our plane is just too BIG. We're going back to ORD
(search Google news for "Plane too big" for link to USA Today story)
United flight operated by SkyWest. A text message with details on the new flight offered more insight into the reason for the u-turn: "We're sorry for returning to Chicago. The airport in Chattanooga is unable to assist with ground operational requirements for your current aircraft type. We assigned your flight a new plane." SkyWest spokeswoman Marissa Snow did not provide any other details, saying only that the 76-seat Embraer aircraft used on the first flight to Chattanooga was "just a different aircraft than typical for ground personnel there.'' She would not elaborate on why the airline used the plane on the route in the first place or didn't check with the airport to see about necessary ground crews. Passengers were put on a 50-seat Bombardier CRJ 200, which United typically uses on the flight. Passengers finally arrived at the gate in Chattanooga just before 8:30 p.m. local time, more than three hours late. |
United didn't have a towbar for that type of A/C so they wouldn't have been able to push it back from the gate.
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Originally Posted by hunbet
(Post 10289848)
United didn't have a towbar for that type of A/C so they wouldn't have been able to push it back from the gate.
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Originally Posted by Longtimer
(Post 10289923)
so why not an apron parking which would not require any push back?
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So they couldn't have simply retracted the jet way to allow the plane to continue through after offloading?
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....8cc8cb2e19.jpg |
Originally Posted by .Scott
(Post 10290240)
So they couldn't have simply retracted the jet way to allow the plane to continue through after offloading?
Originally Posted by A Squared
(Post 10290235)
That's not the sort of thing that it's wise to improvise at the last minute.
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How long to organise the loan of a towbar from a nearby field and truck it over, surely cheaper and less disruptive.
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You can park in a fashion that you don't blast innocent people and still don't need a towbar. And you can move an airplane by manually pushing it with some strong men. No need for towbars at all.
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Originally Posted by .Scott
(Post 10290240)
So they couldn't have simply retracted the jet way to allow the plane to continue through after offloading?
Well, in that particular picture, it looks like it might be possible with that particular airplane parked at that particular gate in that position. It's worth noting that the presence of an airplane in Northwest livery indicates the photo is at least 8 years old. If you look at Chattanooga on Google earth, the more recent satellite imagery shows that the current gate orientations are more or less straight into the terminal and wouldn't be possible to taxi out of. So, we'd be talking about marshaling an aircraft into a position not in compliance with the current gate markings, GSE equipment positioning marking, and estimating ad-hoc by eyeball the parking orientation that would allow; A.) the Jetway to connect to the airplane, and B.) the airplane to taxi out without a push ... none of which the current ground crew has ever done before or even been trained for, nor are there pavement markings to go by. Additionally, if all the parking stands are all now oriented nose-in to the terminal building, there's a pretty good chance that parking obliquely across one would encroach on an adjacent gate. I think that the chances they'd do that are vanishingly small. |
Originally Posted by Less Hair
(Post 10290269)
And you can move an airplane by manually pushing it with some strong men. No need for towbars at all.
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Originally Posted by harrryw
(Post 10290264)
How long to organise the loan of a towbar from a nearby field and truck it over, surely cheaper and less disruptive.
The closest airport with airline service is Knoxville, which is 2 hours driving distance. Chicago-Chattanooga flight time is 1:45 minutes So even if you had gone through all the necessary phone calls to locate the specific towbar required, arranged it's loan, arranged a truck and driver to transport it, had it loaded on the truck, and the truck started driving at the same time the airplane took off, it still wouldn't make it in time. |
Could they have loaded a tow bar onto the plane itself? Of course, assuming a spare was available.
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Originally Posted by .Scott
(Post 10290281)
Could they have loaded a tow bar onto the plane itself? Of course, assuming a spare was available.
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So you're going to push a 60,000-70,000 lb jet beck from the gate by hand? Seriously? |
Originally Posted by Less Hair
(Post 10290290)
Before you have to turn around some commercial flight why not?
Originally Posted by Less Hair
(Post 10290290)
Plane too big If you just shut down at the right spot you can roll out without help.
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People have pushed aircraft before ...
https://www.flightglobal.com/news/ar...y-from-216074/ (It's an old story, maybe the photos won't show up, but the text does at least) |
Originally Posted by Mad (Flt) Scientist
(Post 10290344)
People have pushed aircraft before ...
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-new...where-30208605
Not that I'd recommend it, but having been there I'd not recommend staying either.... |
Originally Posted by A Squared
(Post 10290370)
Are you seriously trying to insist that gathering 30 or more workers (from where?) and having them push back a jet by hand is a reasonable solution?
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I have pulled a 747 out of a hangar myself with a small group of people (like 15 to 20 maybe). It's not brute force needed. The main problem is to control some super soft force application at the right spots (senior engineer advice needed) and to have wingwalkers plus somebody in the cockpit listening and ready to brake and stear as things can get very expensive in a second. Plus some aircraft wheel chocks and somebody ready to position them. Once it gets moving it is hard to stop. For an Embraer it should work a little easier.
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