US Airways E-Jet, much like the one used on flight 3203. Thanks Dan!
US Airways Flight 3203 was on descent to Charleston from Charlotte on Wednesday, when the pilot had to turn around and head back to Charlotte. The Charleston International Airport has been closing at midnight since June 9th and will continue to do so until August 9th. From midnight to 6am, the airport has been working on a $30million project to rebuild one of the runways that has had work done on it in the past 40 years.
Trouble started for flight 3203 before it took off, when bad weather came into Charlotte. The flight was scheduled to depart at 10:30 PM, but weather didn’t allow it to depart until 11:43 PM. Carlo Bertolini, spokesman for Republic Airways, the carrier that operated the flight for US Airways stated, ’œWe thought we were going to be able to make it in time. In addition, we thought the tower might remain open a little later.” The pilot of the flight and dispatcher for the airline were in communication during the flight and it was thought the flight could make it before the tower shut down operations for the night.
Bertolini says their flight plan showed them making it to Charleston 17 minutes before the airport was closing. But how is that even possible, when the flight left Charlotte at the time where they were expecting to land in Charleston? This seems like there has to be some mis-communication going on between the airline, dispatcher, airports and spokespeople. The flight is about an hour and the plane left about 17 minutes before the airport was scheduled to close. It shouldn’t have been hard to see the flight was going to be late. Maybe the pilot was hoping they would make an exception since they were coming anyhow?
The pilot and the airline took a gamble and lost. Unfortunately 66 unhappy passengers were stuck on an hour flight to nowhere.
Vueling Airlines is based out of Barcelona, Spain. It serves 23 destinations and has a fleet of about 35 Airbus A320 aircraft. It was founded in 2004 and flies to major destinations in Spain, Europe and northern Africa. Four aircraft are named after special passengers: ’œEloy Fructuoso’ (the one-millionth passenger), ’œConnie Baraja’ (passenger 2 million), ’œElisenda Masana’ (passenger 5 million) and ’œCarlos Ceacero’ (passenger 10 million).
This video shows the complete demolition of a Boeing 720b from start to finish. It is sped up only to take about two mintues. Video found via AirlineEmpires.net
The American Airlines’ 767-300 had just finished undergoing maintenance at Fort Worth when “the nose gear retracted and put the aircraft on its nose,” says a spokesperson for AA.
No personnel were hurt and the plane has been being assessed for damage since the incident on July 15th. AA doesn’t expect any change in schedule due to the absence of this plane.
One of my least favorite things about air travel is waiting in line. Wait in line to check-in, wait in line for security, wait in line to get on the jetway, and wait in line to actually get on the plane. When the electronic kiosks first came out, I loved them. Most people didn’t understand them and didn’t use them, so there was normally no line at all. Now they are the norm, and I am back to waiting in line.
American Airlines is looking to add a new option. They are testing a pilot program (or more like “agent program” heh) over the next six weeks at Boston’s Logan International Airport where standing in line might have more options. Starting next week the airline will test 20 mobile devices called Your Assistance Delivered Anywhere (YADA). They will allow passengers to print boarding passes and make upgrades pretty much anywhere in the airport they can find a YADA representative. After the six week test, they hope to roll out the devices nationwide.
This seems like an interesting concept. If it works, not only could it alleviate lines, it could provide more of a one-on-one relationship with American and its customers.
