atlanta today

hammer

hammer

New Member
Sounds like it's a rough day to fly in Atlanta .... I've heard some ATC transmissions. 45 knot crosswind component for a while and the airport was still open although nobody was allowed to fly the approach. Lots of diversions to Nashville and Knoxville. One poor Delta flight was diverted, took off again after the diversion to go into Altanta, and then had to divert again.
 
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the airport was still open although nobody was allowed to fly the approach.

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ATC deosn't make any determinations one way or the other about allowable winds. They just report the winds and the pilot decides whether or not he/she can fly the approach. Same way with thunderstorms or windshear. Captains close airports, not ATC.
 
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45 knot crosswind? That sounds like fun /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[/ QUOTE ] Will it be that much fun in a 150 /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
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the airport was still open although nobody was allowed to fly the approach.

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ATC deosn't make any determinations one way or the other about allowable winds. They just report the winds and the pilot decides whether or not he/she can fly the approach. Same way with thunderstorms or windshear. Captains close airports, not ATC.

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Not quite .... ATC was not allowing pilots to fly the approach. Several requested to at least attempt an ILS and were denied. Options were to hold until things improved or to divert.
 
That's strange. Because generally speaking, ATC will clear you for the approach and leave it up to the captain to ascertain whether or not he wants to do it.

What verbiage was ATC using to deny pilots the ability, albeit nuts, to conduct the approach?
 
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Not quite .... ATC was not allowing pilots to fly the approach. Several requested to at least attempt an ILS and were denied. Options were to hold until things improved or to divert.

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I don't know which frequency you were listening on but I can think of a couple of possibilities.

1) If the terminal area was saturated with airplanes holding at the marker or being vectored waiting for acceptable winds, then approach would not let anyone else in, even if they wanted to try it.

2) More likely there was some operational problem. For example if the tower cab had been evacuated for winds, or there was some debris blowing around on the field.

But outside of those type of things, ATC simply doesn't "close" airports for winds or most other weather phenomona.

Of course, after watching LAX I'm learning new things about the authoritay of an airport "chief".
 
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45 knot crosswind? That sounds like fun /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[/ QUOTE ] Will it be that much fun in a 150 /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

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In a 150 with 45 knot winds you can land sideways on the runway. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
I was listening to www.atcmonitor.com .... it's a cool site to refer students to because you can listen to both ATC and see the corresponding radar screen at the same time. I tuned in when I saw the weather because I knew it would be entertaining!

Doug, the verbiage used by the controller each time he was asked if they could try the approach was "they're not going to let you do that" or something along those lines. I'm sure it was frustrating .... right during the peak of international arrival slots. Nothing like a 40 minute hold over Macey followed by a diversion to Nashville to cap off an 8 hour flight.
 
That explains it. ATL approach control had their hands full with airplanes already in their airspace waiting for winds to come within limits. When that happens they simply shut the door at the arrival fixes. It doesn't matter if you want to volunteer for the approach. They don't have room for you.
 
IF you guys think just hearing about the weather was fun, I was at work and had to be out in it. The rain sucked, the wind sucked, and generally speaking the whole day sucked being out there. With the wind blowing like it did and the rain it felt like ice pellets smacking you in the face
 
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