Delta Virtual Airlines Water Cooler | Airline Operations |
Primary alternates |
DVA1145
Captain, A320
Joined on March 17 2003
DVA Fifteen-Year Anniversary
Western Europe
88 legs, 264.8 hours
49 legs,
139.1 hours online 58 legs,
144.6 hours ACARS 1 legs,
2.8 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
May 25 2005 03:08 ET by Jorge Villar
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Hi there
I've done a search in the forums but didn't found anything on this subject. Does anyone know a good source of information on real world primary alternates for Delta served destinations? I fly mostly the 767-300, and sometimes I wonder what could be the real world primary alternate for the route I am flying.
Perhaps this info could be added to the pilot resources section somehow.
Regards,
Jorge
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DVA1320
Senior Captain, B777-200
COMM
Joined on August 29 2003
Online Six Century Club
DVA Ten-Year Anniversary
Everett Millennium Club
Flying Colonel
Three Million Mile Club
Arlington, VA USA
1,752 legs, 7,042.0 hours
610 legs,
2,627.6 hours online 272 legs,
966.9 hours ACARS 5 legs,
12.2 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
May 25 2005 05:16 ET by Daniel Ward
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Not quite sure of the question. Are you asking about an alternate route? If so, then I recommend the following site. It normally gives the recommended route, as well as routes filed by aircraft type for your departure and arrival airports. The site is: http://www.fltplan.com/ If you are asking about an alternate airport for divert purposes, then you need to look at what other airports are along the way, and ones in the arrival vicinity that can handle your aircraft type. I have been diverted twice in the past few years (real life). One was on a flight from SFO-IAD. We were diverted to LAS after departure from SFO for a medical emergency. The other divert was for weather reasons. I was on a 744 from LAX-IAD and diverted to RIC. Yes, RIC can handle a 744 (I also saw 777's and 767's land while we were parked on the ramp). There were severe storms over IAD. We eventually departed RIC and landed at IAD.
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DVA1320
Senior Captain, B777-200
COMM
Joined on August 29 2003
Online Six Century Club
DVA Ten-Year Anniversary
Everett Millennium Club
Flying Colonel
Three Million Mile Club
Arlington, VA USA
1,752 legs, 7,042.0 hours
610 legs,
2,627.6 hours online 272 legs,
966.9 hours ACARS 5 legs,
12.2 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
May 25 2005 05:17 ET by Daniel Ward
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Sorry, forgot to add that you will need to sign up for an account at that site. But the signup is free.
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DVA1145
Captain, A320
Joined on March 17 2003
DVA Fifteen-Year Anniversary
Western Europe
88 legs, 264.8 hours
49 legs,
139.1 hours online 58 legs,
144.6 hours ACARS 1 legs,
2.8 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
May 25 2005 06:05 ET by Jorge Villar
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Hello dan, thanks for answering.
My question was about alternate airports, of course. But being more precise, I wanted to know the main alternate airports for the destination, in case of not being able to land for weather or other issues. I supposed that for each possible destination there could be a prefered alternate airport for a given airframe. For example, what would be the prefered alternate for ATL in a 767? Or more like: is there a prefered alternate airport for ATL in the 767 routes?
Hope this clears it up.
Jorge
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DVA238
Senior Captain, B737-800
Joined on August 15 2001
Online Double Century Club
B757 100 Club
Millennium Club
Million Mile Club
Everett Millennium Club
DVA Twenty-Year Anniversary
"Repainters, "Get Ready"" Comer, GA
1,468 legs, 3,409.3 hours
235 legs,
435.3 hours online 1,108 legs,
2,774.0 hours ACARS 1 legs dispatched, 1.8
hours
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Posted onPost created on
May 25 2005 06:30 ET by Brittany Sventon
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Usually, your alternate airports for ATL would be Birmingham, Huntsville, Greenville, Savannah, and maybe Montgomery. Delta had a bunch of aircraft divert to Birmingham last week. (If only I had business in Roebuck that morning!)
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DVA1320
Senior Captain, B777-200
COMM
Joined on August 29 2003
Online Six Century Club
DVA Ten-Year Anniversary
Everett Millennium Club
Flying Colonel
Three Million Mile Club
Arlington, VA USA
1,752 legs, 7,042.0 hours
610 legs,
2,627.6 hours online 272 legs,
966.9 hours ACARS 5 legs,
12.2 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
May 25 2005 06:35 ET by Daniel Ward
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Hi Jorge, I am not sure if there is an "official" list of Delta alternate airports. However, I am quite sure if you need an airport large enough to handle your 767, Delta has a presence there (at least in the US). Would think that JAX, SPA, and others in the ATL area would be suitable. The best thing for you to do is get that info as part of your pre-flight work. You should have a pretty good idea of what the weather is going to be at your destination when you are scheduled to arrive. At this time of the year, be prepared to divert because there are good chances of significant weather fluctations because of the the transition from winter to summer, and changes in the jet stream patterns. The particular divert field is going to depend on a lot of factors. Like the direction of arrival, weather at selected diverts, traffic, load, etc...
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DVA1145
Captain, A320
Joined on March 17 2003
DVA Fifteen-Year Anniversary
Western Europe
88 legs, 264.8 hours
49 legs,
139.1 hours online 58 legs,
144.6 hours ACARS 1 legs,
2.8 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
May 25 2005 06:50 ET by Jorge Villar
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I think I get the picture. My main concern was to avoid choosing an unrealistic alternate airport when I fill in the VATSIM flight plan.
On a related question, what is the standard procedure in case of a diverted flight to an alternate airfield? Land there and wait until the conditions are good enough? What happens with the passengers? If they are to be carried to their destination by other means, the alternate can't be too far from the destination.
Questions, questions...
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DVA085
Senior Captain, MD-88
Joined on July 05 2001
Online Quadruple Century Club
Six Century Club
""This is the way we ride" "Worldwide" Oak Ridge, TN USA
619 legs, 1,144.2 hours
529 legs,
971.2 hours online 251 legs,
478.7 hours ACARS 39 legs,
86.2 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
May 25 2005 06:59 ET by Tyrone Weston
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Most delta out stations can handle diversions for gas and go... A few years back ATL was having Bad Storms..
Delta had a MD-11, 777, 767-300, 4 MD-88, 3 crj's and 1 757 divert into TYS..
Delta has all the tow bars except the MD-11 and 777 towbar so if they can handle everything on the gates if they need to offload paxs...
But the alternates are picked by the Flight Dispatcher... some times they don't plug them in as I notices on some of AA Releases that I have printed up...
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DVA238
Senior Captain, B737-800
Joined on August 15 2001
Online Double Century Club
B757 100 Club
Millennium Club
Million Mile Club
Everett Millennium Club
DVA Twenty-Year Anniversary
"Repainters, "Get Ready"" Comer, GA
1,468 legs, 3,409.3 hours
235 legs,
435.3 hours online 1,108 legs,
2,774.0 hours ACARS 1 legs dispatched, 1.8
hours
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Posted onPost created on
May 25 2005 07:11 ET by Brittany Sventon
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I hope the Tulsa-Atlanta leg of my trip back to Birmingham next week doesn't divert to Birmingham. I got a rather lengthy but hopefully enjoyable layover in Atlanta!
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DVA1320
Senior Captain, B777-200
COMM
Joined on August 29 2003
Online Six Century Club
DVA Ten-Year Anniversary
Everett Millennium Club
Flying Colonel
Three Million Mile Club
Arlington, VA USA
1,752 legs, 7,042.0 hours
610 legs,
2,627.6 hours online 272 legs,
966.9 hours ACARS 5 legs,
12.2 hours event
|
Posted onPost created on
May 25 2005 07:26 ET by Daniel Ward
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As to what happens with the passengers, that is purely situational. When we were diverted to LAS for the medical emergency we were required to stay on the aircraft since we were just getting to sick passenger off the airplane, then on to our destination. When we were diverted to RIC enroute to IAD they gave the passengers the option of offloading at RCI and taking a bus to DC (about a 2 1/2 hour ride), or remaining onboard. We left about 2 hours later. It wasn't an issue of getting us off the ground, but rather an ATC issue. You can imagine the headache they had with aircraft diverted all over the place. No only did they have to figure out how to sequence everyone back into IAD, but many of these aircraft were needed for flights to Europe. Rather hard to take a 733 or a J31 accross the pond.
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DVA1145
Captain, A320
Joined on March 17 2003
DVA Fifteen-Year Anniversary
Western Europe
88 legs, 264.8 hours
49 legs,
139.1 hours online 58 legs,
144.6 hours ACARS 1 legs,
2.8 hours event
|
Posted onPost created on
May 25 2005 07:47 ET by Jorge Villar
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It would be great if all this could be simulated properly in VATSIM. Since I started flying online, 3 years ago, never had to divert or delay due to bad weather. We just land as well as we can. Perhaps the absence of real danger has something to do with this. But I like my fligths as colse to the real thing as I can, and that was the . I even try to depart from and arrive to the same gate as the real world flight!
Well, perhaps FS20 will ship with a virtual flight dispatcher that will take the weather forecast from the internet and plan every detail for us. Until then, your tips will be of great help. Thanks guys.
Jorge.
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DVA238
Senior Captain, B737-800
Joined on August 15 2001
Online Double Century Club
B757 100 Club
Millennium Club
Million Mile Club
Everett Millennium Club
DVA Twenty-Year Anniversary
"Repainters, "Get Ready"" Comer, GA
1,468 legs, 3,409.3 hours
235 legs,
435.3 hours online 1,108 legs,
2,774.0 hours ACARS 1 legs dispatched, 1.8
hours
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Posted onPost created on
May 25 2005 07:54 ET by Brittany Sventon
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Isn't that what PM Flight Planner is for? Flight dispatching?
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DVA1690
Senior Captain, MD-88
OLP
Joined on May 05 2004
50 State Club
Quatercentenary Club
Online Quadruple Century Club
Stage 1 Jet Double Century Club
DVA Twenty-Year Anniversary
"Life begins at Vr" Longmont, CO USA
474 legs, 694.8 hours
465 legs,
681.0 hours online 252 legs,
384.8 hours ACARS 3 legs,
3.9 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
May 25 2005 08:19 ET by Trevor Bair
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What, we have to plan for this?! I thought that's what dispatch was for!?! lol
I would say to keep in mind that alternate airport selection depends on a number of factors that folks have touched on here:
1) Weather - Airports need to be far away enough to have better weather, if that's your reason for diversion.
2) Equipment - An obvious one; can you land your 767 on a 5500 ft runway? Hmm...
3) Facilities - Fuel, ground handling, etc. and even things like do they have an airstair that will work for your a/c type.
There's also several other factors to throw into the mix, that I generally don't worry about on VATSIM.
I know when flying transatlantic flights, there are several alternate airports depending on where the plane is at during the flight. For example JFK-LHR might have diversion points of say, Halifax, Gander, and Reykjavik. If an emergency came up in flight or a diversion was required, you would descend out of the NAT structure, then turn direct the diversion airport. Load your reserve fuel, contengincy fuel and any ground/ATC considerations and you should be able to make it to one of these places no problem!
Good luck!
TRB
Trevor BairSenior Captain, MD-88
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