UAL-Goose Bay CA diversion

I had read about this yesterday and thought.....well....the population of Goose bay is what.....like 7k. After doing a little search online there are a couple of hotels/lodges and B&Bs there but most of them are like ten miles out of town. I can only imagine that the logistics of trying to bus or shuttle all the pax to various locations (wherever rooms were available and there may have not been enough room for all of them to begin with) couldn't be done for whatever reasons. There were 200 or so pax, I believe. The decision was to take them together to a Military post apparently where at least they were safe/secure, had rooms, bathrooms, hot showers, clean sheets/beds, blankets, hot meals and even internet access. Apparently some of them even found a little grocery store nearby that they walked to and told other pax about. They had company and weren't isolated and alone.

Perhaps not the best situation (I don't know what the options were) but certainly better than being stranded at the airport and the barracks are good enough for soldiers. There probably are not even enough CBSA officers there to process that many pax, at any rate.

I think the larger issue perhaps, is no one going to visit them and communicate with them at the barracks. The pax also don't seem to understand/get that a safe landing was executed, that they are fine and that no, they would not be mingling with the flight and cabin crew at the barracks or the reasons why.

While this wasn't the most pleasant of delays it certainly was not the worst situation that could have occurred either, Crap does happen. A lot of how you handle the crap is your attitude and outlook. Something can be a disaster or an adventure or you can simply cope/deal with the cards you are handed. If someone was that desperate to leave the barracks, they all had cell phones (or could borrow one) and could have called around to the hotels, found a room and a taxi.

Sometime, you just need to suck it up, make the best out of a situation and quit whining so damn much. It's not the worst thing that can happen to you in your tiny life.
 
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Hell, Sue and I would have made a little adventure out the whole thing. We would have gone into town, bought souvenirs, eaten what we wanted, got some supplies to take back with us, played cards, played games on the internet, listened to music or watched a movie on line, contacted our family, gone for a walks and explored some, see what others may have wanted/needed from town if they didn't want to/couldn't go, make sure the kids, babies and elderly pax were okay and see what they may have needed (and found a way to get them whatever they needed), met some people and who knows what all.

If we weren't allowed to leave for some reason, I know there are places there that deliver food there, even pizza (after looking on line) and we would have managed just fine. I've been stuck in far worse situations/circumstances/places and for a longer time frame.
 
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A Life Aloft said:
Hell, Sue and I would have made a little adventure out the whole thing. We would have gone into town, bought souvenirs, eaten what we wanted, got some supplies to take back with us, played cards, played games on the internet and contacted our family, gone for a walks and explored some, see what others may have wanted/needed from town if they didn't want to/couldn't go, make sure the kids, babies and elderly pax were okay and see what they may have needed, met some people and who knows what all.

If we weren't allowed to leave for some reason, I know there are places there that deliver food there, even pizza (after looking on line) and we would have managed just fine. I've been stuck in far worse situations/circumstances/places and for a longer time frame.
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Got a choice. Fast food or sit down meal: MREs, or chow hall line.
 
MikeD said:
Got a choice. Fast food or sit down meal: MREs, or chow hall line.
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Exactly. If it's good enough for soldiers, it's good enough for little old me. You aren't going to starve for crap's sake or die of thirst or freeze to death (but, we only had two blankets!). Take a hot shower, bundle up and cope. Make it fun and interesting or make it a nightmare.......your choice.

There are millions of seriously poor, homeless and destitute people all around the world who would have looked upon those barracks, bathrooms and food, to be a dream come true. People need to have some perspective for a change.
 
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It is an interesting academic though, the whole situation. Being that our fire/rescue company does ARFF contracts here and there, mostly on helo or light aircraft stuff at a small heliport or airfield; we have only basic planning for a "what if" scenario if we get a call from ZAB that X airline's MD80/737 has some catastrophic situation or emergency so critical, that they'll be landing where we happen to be on contract....say somewhere like Willcox. First, how would we manage the emergency itself: what's the emergency they have and what do we have on this contract (at best, we're ARFF Index A, maybe barely a B at times); which will determine how we will approach, what the responsibility divide will be, and what our basic plan of action will be. Then working the emergency itself. Evac involved, no evac? That will determine tactics at the moment. Then post emergency, what best support can we provide to the Capt and his crew. Just an interesting academic, because who knows......could happen.
 
Anything can happen and who knows, you might just have such a situation at some point. Anything can happen to anyone anywhere, at home, work, on the road, while traveling, at the grocery store or whatever. It's always valuable to reflect on possible scenarios even for just regular people to think about what you should do/not do and try to be prepared as best you can. That's why you need to always have certain items in your carryon and not in checked luggage, certain emergency, safety items, tools, equipment and medical items in your home and vehicles that readily available (and know how to use them), take certain courses/classes etc. The more prepared you are in life the better and some of trying to be prepared is your mindset, how organized you are and how well you have contemplated issues that may arise. You need to have some sort of a plan (and a backup plan) and at least attempt to be prepared on some level. Life is chaotic many times.
 
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Upon further investigation it looks like it was a flight control issue. Elevator/Rudder vibration of some sort.
 
Hacker15e said:
My favorite part is that the pax were mad that the crew were in an actual hotel.
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Mine was that and the OMG, Military barracks!!!! Like they were in a cockroach, bedbug infested flop house on skid row full of hookers, drug addicts and the homeless, for crap's sake. Hell, soldiers deployed in the field, in some god forsaken hell hole, getting their asses shot at, are fondly dreaming about those same barracks. lol
 
A Life Aloft said:
Mine was that and the OMG, Military barracks!!!! Like they were in a cockroach, bedbug infested flop house on skid row full of hookers, drug addicts and the homeless, for crap's sake. Hell, soldiers deployed in the field, in some god forsaken hell hole, getting their asses shot at, are fondly dreaming about those same barracks. lol
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Based on the photos I saw, those barracks were 2-3 times better than many places I've stayed courtesy of Uncle Sam.
 
Look at how those poor pax were suffering!! They were bussed by the base over to the mess hall which was heated and had plenty of food and drinks available. They were allowed to stay in the mess hall all day/as long as they wanted to and bring food and drinks back to their rooms if they wanted.

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Gulp..... they had to share a bathroom between the adjoining room....only one bathroom per two rooms! Oh the horror!

And none of this.....
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I'll bet they didn't get a mint on their pillow either!
 
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