47 trapped on 'nightmare' flight to the Twin Cities

Gonzo said:
RST is one messed up airport. The FBO is not 24 hours. We were delayed (ground stop 2+ hours) one night and TSA went home. Nothing to eat in the airport so CA CX the flight because station manager would not let us get food deliverd. I also have had to sleep in a plane in RST. IT will be story time at NJC. This is the same airport that can't defuel a plane after they over fulled us. http://flightaware.com/live/flight/EGF3986/history/20090514/1220Z/KRST/KORD
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It is. This is one of the places I used to fly freight to. I sat in the FBO many a time at midnight or later.You have to call the people because they are either sleeping or cleaning the hanger.
 
these stories never shock me. what shocks me is that no one on board takes the initiative to let themselves off the plane.
 
H46Bubba said:
Loooooove Garrison Keiller and his show! It sucks because I have to work during both air times here in Cincy.:banghead:
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Podcast on iTunes! I listen to him on the commute. That and "This American Life" with Ira GlaaaaasttHTHTHTH.
 
WalterSobchak said:
I can be fairly abrasive and type A and there is no doubt in my mind those people would have been off that plane. Now my question is why not turn around and divert to an airport that has ops set up for you(ie ALO or DSM both served by XE) and those two are only a 15-20 minute flight from RST. Hell ALO is on the KASPR3 arrival. Just my $.02
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We do not serve ALO. We do serve DSM, but that airport would not have operations staff at 12:30AM. Honestly, only personal speculation, but I imagine they went to RST because a) it was their release alternate, and b) they were stuck between two lines of weather. If you look at the FlightAware link I posted above, it appears that DSM and CID are getting hit. The diversion was not a bad decision. Plus, it was not the crew's fault they timed out. That lies with our scheduling department.

For what transpired on the ground, I don't want to speculate. If it were me, I'm going to the FBO, opening the door, and letting people out. I'd be able to articulate my decision the next day to the CP if need be. But I wasn't there, so I'm not going to hang one of my fellow crews out to dry.
 
wheelsup said:
Saying the regionals clog the ATC system is a bit disingenuous, doncha' think?

You wanna see clogging up the system? Listen to a fellow in his 172 or A36 try and eek out a flight following request!

Plus, most other countries don't really have GA anyway.
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We're not going to turn this into a GA bashing post are we, :mad:
 
This happened to me a few months ago. We were inbound to ACY, but it was totally fogged in. We were forced to divert to PHL. Usually it's the opposite--other planes sit in ACY because PHL, EWR, JFK and LGA are problematic--and, they do sit off to the side of the field. But we have no service at PHL. So, we have three 319's sent to the FBO to sit. Finally the airport sends over the one airstair they have. We have three 319's, each full with 150+ passengers. It's midnight on a Saturday morning. Needless to say, efforts to find ground transportation to ACY were not meeting with much success at that hour of the morning. So, people can't exactly exit off an airplane that is many feet off the ground without a stair. And, we had to tell them that if they exited, they were on their own. We broke out all the food and drinks. Some passengers called family or friends to pick them up as ACY was their final destination. Some remained and awaited transport. Most of the ground transport didn't arrive until 6 AM. The fog did not lift until 11 AM.

My favorite was the woman who freaked out and said she absolutely needed to get back home as her dog was missing her. I think her dog was asleep at midnight!
 
lostplanetairman said:
This happened to me a few months ago. We were inbound to ACY, but it was totally fogged in. We were forced to divert to PHL. Usually it's the opposite--other planes sit in ACY because PHL, EWR, JFK and LGA are problematic--and, they do sit off to the side of the field. But we have no service at PHL. So, we have three 319's sent to the FBO to sit. Finally the airport sends over the one airstair they have. We have three 319's, each full with 150+ passengers. It's midnight on a Saturday morning. Needless to say, efforts to find ground transportation to ACY were not meeting with much success at that hour of the morning. So, people can't exactly exit off an airplane that is many feet off the ground without a stair. And, we had to tell them that if they exited, they were on their own. We broke out all the food and drinks. Some passengers called family or friends to pick them up as ACY was their final destination. Some remained and awaited transport. Most of the ground transport didn't arrive until 6 AM. The fog did not lift until 11 AM.

My favorite was the woman who freaked out and said she absolutely needed to get back home as her dog was missing her. I think her dog was asleep at midnight!
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Do you work for Spirit?
 
lostplanetairman said:
This happened to me a few months ago. We were inbound to ACY, but it was totally fogged in. We were forced to divert to PHL. Usually it's the opposite--other planes sit in ACY because PHL, EWR, JFK and LGA are problematic--and, they do sit off to the side of the field. But we have no service at PHL. So, we have three 319's sent to the FBO to sit. Finally the airport sends over the one airstair they have. We have three 319's, each full with 150+ passengers. It's midnight on a Saturday morning. Needless to say, efforts to find ground transportation to ACY were not meeting with much success at that hour of the morning. So, people can't exactly exit off an airplane that is many feet off the ground without a stair. And, we had to tell them that if they exited, they were on their own. We broke out all the food and drinks. Some passengers called family or friends to pick them up as ACY was their final destination. Some remained and awaited transport. Most of the ground transport didn't arrive until 6 AM. The fog did not lift until 11 AM.

My favorite was the woman who freaked out and said she absolutely needed to get back home as her dog was missing her. I think her dog was asleep at midnight!
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But here your crew and company did the right they thing, IMO:clap:. The PAX were able to make their own decision as whether to stay or go.
 
Except passengers that wanted to exit didn't understand that they had to wait their turn for the one stair to get to each plane. They didn't get it that, if we just opened the doors, they would shatter their legs because they were not on ground level. They just didn't get it despite the fact that we told them over and over and over. So, initially, they were quite unreasonable as they demanded to be released immediately (especially the lady with the dog who would be traumatized if she returned home at 8 AM instead of 2 AM).
 
Roger said:
I'm surprised RST doesn't have good service. I'd think that with all the Sheiks and world leaders and such being treated at the Mayo, the airport would have a pretty classy FBO with at least 24 hour callout capability.
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oh man let me tell you a story about how I arrived at the FBO at RST around 2am and was CHASTIZED by the ONE line guy about wanting to use the SNOOZE ROOM to... SLEEP.

horrible. worst service i received all year honestly. their facility is a dump too.
 
Nine hours on an ERJ.

What a completely unacceptable situation!!!

Declare an operational emergency and give the higher-ups a choice:
1) Passengers vacate the aircraft on the ramp (no stairs or slide on an ERJ so it'd have to be cautious and careful and wheelchair pax or elderly would need something for sure, so I'd do as Alchemy suggested and call 911 and get the local fire department over with a small ladder)

or

2) A bus pulls up to the airplane within 30 minutes

or

3) If the FBO is available then the engines will be started at once and the aircraft will be parked there and all passengers let off.


If this is how pilots are going to behave, then bring on the passenger bill of rights. If I was a passenger on this flight I'd almost want to walk up and open the door myself and jump out to the ramp.

ATROCIOUS treatment of customers and, really, human beings in general.
 
TXaviator said:
oh man let me tell you a story about how I arrived at the FBO at RST around 2am and was CHASTIZED by the ONE line guy about wanting to use the SNOOZE ROOM to... SLEEP.

horrible. worst service i received all year honestly. their facility is a dump too.
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When I hear about stuff like that, I remember why many FBOs don't seem to make much money.
 
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