More than one way to skin that cat...

SteveC

"Laconic"
Staff member
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We had two aircraft coming back from Cleveland today. We left within a few minutes of each other, both of us had filed the same route at FL220, and both of us decided to fly MUCH higher to get over/through the line in a safe manner ((one at FL360, the other at FL400). Very different decisions, yet very much the same results.
 
How was the ride and how big were the holes?

EDIT: Also, do you guys have XM weather? Or just what's on board? I'd normally chose option A, but I can see where the second guy got to a bend in the storm and said it's not worth it and went the other way. At the same time, with a better strategic view (XM weather), I'm curious if that would affect decision making at all.
 
I can't speak for the other plane, but we actually had a pretty decent ride, and the gap we went through was at least 15 miles wide (at least as our radar was painting at our altitude and slightly below.) We experienced the sharpest bumps heading south parallel to the line - the actual line crossing was anticlimactic.

Remember that the picture as shown isn't completely accurate because it shows the line in a single position when in reality it moves during the hour it takes for the total trip. If I were to sketch our route in relation to the weather in real time it might look something more like this:

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This is what I got to play in this evening

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Was doing well until just south of STL where we flew the top of a cell at FL410. Never saw it on the radar, I think it built up under us as we closed in on it. Not so much a rough ride as it was a gain and loss of altitude.
 
How was the ride and how big were the holes?

EDIT: Also, do you guys have XM weather? Or just what's on board? I'd normally chose option A, but I can see where the second guy got to a bend in the storm and said it's not worth it and went the other way. At the same time, with a better strategic view (XM weather), I'm curious if that would affect decision making at all.
Hack the airplane's wifi(if you're that fancy), bam, ALL the weather! :)

Sidetrack, is it frowned upon to do that? Obviously, going on facetubes probably is, but what about checking the weather?
 
I got a ride home last night from CLT to DTW. The reroute we got was ATL.VUZ.STL.IOW.ORD. The distance went from 500 miles to 1200 miles.
 
Dude, that was a perfect 'three hour delay steak dinner til the line moves through' situation.
 
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We had two aircraft coming back from Cleveland today. We left within a few minutes of each other, both of us had filed the same route at FL220, and both of us decided to fly MUCH higher to get over/through the line in a safe manner ((one at FL360, the other at FL400). Very different decisions, yet very much the same results.
Your way was better you didn't limit your options as much and stayed on the back side
 
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