Post by Dutch Owen on Jan 20, 2011 1:15:50 GMT -5
I love the randomness of the crew assignment option of the admin - leave the airport off and you'll get a flight picked from your schedule for your airplane, or a charter if no schedule.
I drew flight 16 today, B721 Atlanta to Wilmington then on to Lynchburg and ending at DC. Weather at ILM was bad - 1 mile in mist. Dispatch didn't like it, put me in a weather hold. I always request release. Seven times out of ten I can make it in. I'll usually have a go at it and then divert if I can't safely land. The METAR usually looks worse than the weather in MSFS.
I read on PPRUNE the other day some real-life pilot's rule he follows: if the weather is bad always wait 15 minutes. If it gets worse you were justified. If it gets better you can always say you were waiting to give the PAX a better ride
For me, it got worse. Halfway there while the stews, er, attendants were handing out cokes and crackers the METAR updated - 1/4 mile in fog! Dispatch said don't go. I figured I'd do the 15 minute rule. ATC would put me in a weather hold anyway and if it didn't improve in 15-20 mins I'd divert.
However, got handed to approach and they kept stepping me down. No weather hold. METAR still said you can't see. "Real" weather from FSUIPC said basically the same thing. So I figured what the hell I'll go down to DH and if I can't see, we'll go around and divert.
Once I got vectored onto a long final, the oddest thing was in front of me. I was in a clear patch with 10 miles visibility. Up ahead was the airport -- and I couldn't see it, except for Runway 35 poking out of the fog! Went on down and landed. By the time I'd turned off, visibility was about a 1/4 mile -- but only on half the runway!
PAX Applauded. Take that, dispatcher. Taxied in and unloaded on schedule - score an even 100.
By the way -- the applause you sometimes get after landing in atrocious weather comes from my personal experience, flying into JFK on Air France one time, rain, clouds, wind - looked awful. The passenger cabin on the 777 was tense. When we landed and stopped many people burst out in applause. I kind of liked that. I suspect the pilots did too
Dutch
I drew flight 16 today, B721 Atlanta to Wilmington then on to Lynchburg and ending at DC. Weather at ILM was bad - 1 mile in mist. Dispatch didn't like it, put me in a weather hold. I always request release. Seven times out of ten I can make it in. I'll usually have a go at it and then divert if I can't safely land. The METAR usually looks worse than the weather in MSFS.
I read on PPRUNE the other day some real-life pilot's rule he follows: if the weather is bad always wait 15 minutes. If it gets worse you were justified. If it gets better you can always say you were waiting to give the PAX a better ride
For me, it got worse. Halfway there while the stews, er, attendants were handing out cokes and crackers the METAR updated - 1/4 mile in fog! Dispatch said don't go. I figured I'd do the 15 minute rule. ATC would put me in a weather hold anyway and if it didn't improve in 15-20 mins I'd divert.
However, got handed to approach and they kept stepping me down. No weather hold. METAR still said you can't see. "Real" weather from FSUIPC said basically the same thing. So I figured what the hell I'll go down to DH and if I can't see, we'll go around and divert.
Once I got vectored onto a long final, the oddest thing was in front of me. I was in a clear patch with 10 miles visibility. Up ahead was the airport -- and I couldn't see it, except for Runway 35 poking out of the fog! Went on down and landed. By the time I'd turned off, visibility was about a 1/4 mile -- but only on half the runway!
PAX Applauded. Take that, dispatcher. Taxied in and unloaded on schedule - score an even 100.
By the way -- the applause you sometimes get after landing in atrocious weather comes from my personal experience, flying into JFK on Air France one time, rain, clouds, wind - looked awful. The passenger cabin on the 777 was tense. When we landed and stopped many people burst out in applause. I kind of liked that. I suspect the pilots did too
Dutch
