"Tarmac" Delays

[dustoff17]

American Eagle is fined again, this time $200,000 for delays of more than 3 hours for two planes......

http://www.usatoday.com/story/todayinthesky/2013/07/23/american-eagle-fine-tarmac-delays/2578715/

I don't understand how/why this happens. In a case where numerous planes are delayed, why can't the ground crew push back a couple of planes so the arriving passengers/planes can utilize a gate?

One would think that you can save a lot of money in the long run rather than paying $1.1m in fines in less than two years!

 

[Rocketman99]

In many cases, they'd have nowhere to actually move the other planes to and/or people to do it.

I don't get all these tarmac delays, I don't know how it's even possible. I have yet to go to an airport that actually has one.

 

[mshunter]

To many airplanes, not enough space.

 

[g550driver]

What is a Tarmac? I have been flying a long time and have never encountered one.

 

[queeno]

TARMAC................................................................................AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[rframe]

According to Merriam Webster, a tarmac is "a road, apron, or runway"

According to Cambridge, a tarmac is "an area of ground covered with a hard surface, esp. the areas of an airport where aircraft park, land, and take off"


Looks like the media has been right all along and its the pilots who are dumb.

 

[tomokc]

To many airplanes, not enough space.

I know airports are expensive, but that's a cost of doing business. The carriers can't simply keep adding aircraft, routes & flights without having a plan to get passengers on & off.

 

[dustoff17]

In many cases, they'd have nowhere to actually move the other planes to and/or people to do it.

I don't get all these tarmac delays, I don't know how it's even possible. I have yet to go to an airport that actually has one.

If nothing is flying then they have the proverbial cornucopia of ground crew standing aroundI

To many airplanes, not enough space.

Not buying this, at DFW you have tons of space along the north end of J, K, and L (east side). There is NO reason one couldn't "stack & pack" in this area as many times as needed to open up the gates. Well, unless the airlines like paying fines....

 

[g550driver]

According to Merriam Webster, a tarmac is "a road, apron, or runway"

According to Cambridge, a tarmac is "an area of ground covered with a hard surface, esp. the areas of an airport where aircraft park, land, and take off"


Looks like the media has been right all along and its the pilots who are dumb.

Well color me stupid.

 

[Rocketman99]

They haven't been right all along. This is a direct result of English as a "living language." When enough morons use things incorrectly, they become accepted/acceptable terms. Case in point, In my several year old copy of the American Heritage College Dictionary (3ed) tarmac is defined as "a tarmacadam road or surface, esp. an airport runway." Taking that a step further, tarmacadam has not been used in the construction of runways since the turn of the previous century. Therefore, tarmac does NOT refer to any paved surface of an airport.

Seems the idiots are winning, which isn't surprising since there are so many of them.

 

[gne in prog]

They haven't been right all along. This is a direct result of English as a "living language." When enough morons use things incorrectly, they become accepted/acceptable terms. Case in point, In my several year old copy of the American Heritage College Dictionary (3ed) tarmac is defined as "a tarmacadam road or surface, esp. an airport runway." Taking that a step further, tarmacadam has not been used in the construction of runways since the turn of the previous century. Therefore, tarmac does NOT refer to any paved surface of an airport.

Seems the idiots are winning, which isn't surprising since there are so many of them.

My doctor agrees with you. He openly mocks me if I use plain English, insisting I refer to everything in their proper, Latin terms.

 

[JustinS]

Talk about easy money for the gooberment.

 

[ChasenSFO]

I'd have to imagine Eagle has no shortage of remote parking at DFW. If they took the rule as "seriously" as they state, they more than likely could have towed and remoted a canceled flight off a gate or, since the rampers obviously had nothing going on, parked the inbounds at remote spots, off loaded, and had pax brought to the terminal by bus with an Airfield Safety escort. I've seen both done in the right circumstance, granted we don't know how icy it was out and if moving airplanes around was possible. But most airlines don't like to act outside the box like that. Unlike a certain carrier who I once saw park a 737 at another airlines gate without permission in the middle of the night, de-board,then quickly push back and remote when all the other airlines staff had gone home. Gotta admire folks who know how to git-r-done.

 

[jwp_145]

What I want to now is WHY DON'T THE PASSENGERS GET THIS MONEY?????
$25K per pax... and they're the ones who are made to suffer... and they don't see a damn dime!?!

THis rule doesn't help anyone. THere are times when the pax would gladly agree to stay in the plane over 3 hours, say for a huge queue for takeoff, and there are other times where it is not acceptable that they stay on for an hour. All this rule is is beaurocratic meddeling.

 

[Autothrust Blue]

I don't remember how they staffed the ramp in DFW, but I know for a while there was not a little butthurt in ORD over dynamic staffing.

I would be completely and utterly unsurprised if there weren't enough people to do the parking.

To many airplanes, not enough space.

I sincerely doubt that is the problem at DFDubs.

 

[Autothrust Blue]

And regarding the term 'tarmac' - I don't find its use offensive, per se, I just wouldn't ever find myself using it.

 

[BobDDuck]

Not buying this, at DFW you have tons of space along the north end of J, K, and L (east side). There is NO reason one couldn't "stack & pack" in this area as many times as needed to open up the gates. Well, unless the airlines like paying fines....

The issue is that many times when stuff is back up like this, the ramp is shut down due to weather and nobody can get outside to move the planes. I sat for 3:12 one day in Columbia after we landed because of three thunderstorms in rapid succession. Nothing anybody could do about it.

 

[rframe]

Good grief, there's gotta be one old set of air stairs around somewhere, open the damn door, pull up a bus and let the people out. These crap cans for airliners are bad enough to sit in for a 2-3 hour flight, being stuck in one on the ground should be considered torture and punishable by international law.

 

[darrenf]

They haven't been right all along. This is a direct result of English as a "living language." When enough morons use things incorrectly, they become accepted/acceptable terms.

Seems the idiots are winning, which isn't surprising since there are so many of them.

This "begs the question", are you "nauseous"?

 

[PhilosopherPilot]

Quoted from Wikipedia, source of 100% fact....


"While the specific tarmac pavement is not common in some countries today, many people use the word to refer to generic paved areas at airports,[5] especially the apron near airport terminals despite the fact that these areas are often made of concrete. The Wick Airport at Wick in Caithness, Scotland, is one of the few airports that still has a real tarmac runway[citation needed]. Similarly in the UK the word "tarmac" is commonly used as an alternative term for asphalt concrete."