Difficult days

The most obvious counter to adverse weather conditions is to carry enough fuel to go elsewhere should the destination prevent a safe arrival. In turn, that alternate airport needs to be at arm’s length from any effects of the weather system in question. In turn, that first decision regarding the carriage of fuel may be challenged by wet runways and unfavourable winds at the destination reducing the maximum landing weight. It would be embarrassing to fight the elements, only arrive at a weight too great to land.

If it were purely a case of the weather is bad therefore plan an alternate airport and game over, life would be simple. However, as is always the case, the situation is rarely so black and white. And when it is, frequently airlines will cancel their services altogether until the threat has passed, as we saw with Cyclone Debbie and flights into Hamilton Island recently. It is the ‘knock-on’ effect of such weather that can cause equal chaos with air travel as much as the phenomenon itself.

Diversions, additional holding and enroute weather avoidance can all extend pilots’ flight and duty times. Accordingly, the roster they are issued at the start of the month may quickly begin to resemble a work of fiction as unscheduled overnights at outports and cancelled services play havoc. Even if the pilots can fly the rostered sequence, it may well preclude them from operating the scheduled service the next day because of duty extensions or minimum rest requirements. The skies may have cleared, but the backlog can provide real challenges to crew the aircraft.

“The roster they are issued at the start of the month may quickly begin to resemble a work of fiction.”

Not only are the pilots now out of base, but so are the aircraft and they may have been planned to be at a major base for overnight maintenance. Spare a thought for the engineers too when the weather turns. Some work will be completed on aircraft parked out on aprons and even those within the hangars need towing back out into the elements to bring in another airframe for attention. It can take a lot of cold, wet engineers to ensure that the flightline is ready to go when the next day arrives.

Closer to home, further frustrations can occur even when an aircraft is cleared to dispatch. The flashing strobes adjacent to aerobridges can bring all airport operations to a grinding halt due to the presence of thunderstorms and potentially unsafe working conditions for ground crews. Again, the knock-on effect comes into play. Arriving aircraft must hold, aircraft that have landed can’t access a bay and departing aircraft are effectively stranded.

So, when the weather passes and the strobes extinguish it takes a little while for things to gain traction once more. Parking is at a premium, taxiways are congested and departing may not be able to fly the prescribed routes due to lingering storms and are flying left, right and centre on any range of headings. Meanwhile, air traffic controllers are doing their best to accommodate safe passage and still maintain their separation standards.

Scheduled works on runways and navigation aids may be rescheduled as they are needed in earnest and the downtime can’t be afforded. Airlines that use both aerobridges and stairs for front and rear doors are limited to the aerobridge only and transit times blow out. On and on it goes when Mother Nature decides to exert her influence.

For passengers, the delays, cancellations and diversions can disrupt their best made plans and inside the terminal can become a simmering pot of frustration and crowded café queues. That being said, weather is one reason for disruption that passengers seem to accept more readily. Firstly, they can see outside the window for themselves and when the poor conditions exist hundreds of miles away at their destination, weather radars, news reports and social media can validate the story that the airlines are telling them. Furthermore, like their pilots, very few passengers wish to depart into questionable weather.

A little more difficult to comprehend for the travelling public is the backlog of delays once the skies have cleared. Despite perceptions to the contrary, a switch can’t just be flicked to instantaneously reinstate normal operations. Airline operations have many moving parts and a great deal of inertia. Once they come to a halt it takes a good deal of time and effort to build back up to operational speed. This is the time when passenger frustrations are more likely to boil over.

They are difficult days when the weather decides not to play the game. The best the flight crews can do is place safety first and communicate with their passengers. No-one likes a delay, but people hate being kept in the dark. All being well, the clouds will eventually clear and the massive machine that is the nation’s aerial network will be back on track as soon as it possibly can. It’s never ideal, but in aviation it is simply what happens when weather strikes.