I'm on the road out of PHL this week, and so far I've happily managed to miss weather and TSA screwups. For once I'm actually glad I went out Sunday night ...

That said, the FAA has a ground stop in place for PHL as I write this due to "ships in harbor". Huh? I'm aware that oil tankers unloading on the Delaware River can cause ground clearance issues for runway 17/35 but why should ships cause problems for runways 9/27? From http://www.fly.faa.gov/ois/ :

ATCSCC 081 PHL/ZNY 07/29/2004 CDM GROUND STOP
MESSAGE:

AIRPORT: PHL
ADL TIME: 2313Z
GROUND STOP PERIOD: 29/2303Z - 30/0015Z
SCOPE: (MANUAL) ZAU ZBW ZDC ZID ZNY ZOB
PREVIOUS TOTAL, MAXIMUM, AVERAGE DELAYS: 0/ 0/ 0.00
NEW TOTAL, MAXIMUM, AVERAGE DELAYS: 997/ 67/ 38.3
REASON: OTHER, SHIPS IN HARBOR
PROBABILITY OF EXTENSION: MEDIUM
REMARKS: EXPECT UPDATE: 0015Z

Ships in the harbor? that sounds like some kind of code. Is the FBI or CIA sending a message ? :)

I don't know. Is this related to the debacle that occurred at PHL on Wed. afternoon when the TSA mistakenly thought a pistol had been taken through security and required all passengers in Terminals A-D to resceen, and caused massive delays lasting until Wed. night? This resulted in every departing flight to be delayed for hours. After the fact, TSA acknowledged that they were mistaken. When I landed at PHL last night around 7:30 pm., our pilot noted that between 50 and 60 aircraft (not at the gates) were waiting to either depart or park. What a mess.

I don't know. Is this related to the debacle that occurred at PHL on Wed. afternoon when the TSA mistakenly thought a pistol had been taken through security and required all passengers in Terminals A-D to resceen, and caused massive delays lasting until Wed. night? This resulted in every departing flight to be delayed for hours. After the fact, TSA acknowledged that they were mistaken. When I landed at PHL last night around 7:30 pm., our pilot noted that between 50 and 60 aircraft (not at the gates) were waiting to either depart or park. What a mess.

I fly in/out of PHL on Thursday evenings/Friday afternoons. I get a lot of delays and can't say that I ever heard of this one. I am glad that I missed it.

I guess those flying out of terminal E were lucky for a change.

This delay just seems so out there that I wonder if someone keyed it into the system incorrectly.

Unless there was some kind of security threat perceived from a ship on the Delaware, I can't imagine what kind of ship you've have to bring in there to disrupt air traffic. Even when the USS John F. Kennedy, an aircraft carrier, was at the former Navy Yard for refurbishment in the 90s there weren't air traffic problems because of it. The Kvaerner shipyard cranes are a problem for runway 26, but not for 9/27, at least at their current length.

Whatever it was, the stop seems to have expired as scheduled at 8:15pm EDT.

The delay might have actually had to do with Kvaerner launching their 2nd ship at the Navy Yard this week. I believe they might have had some helicopters filming the launch, which obvously would have created problems for arriving and departing aircraft.

I don't know. Is this related to the debacle that occurred at PHL on Wed. afternoon when the TSA mistakenly thought a pistol had been taken through security and required all passengers in Terminals A-D to resceen, and caused massive delays lasting until Wed. night? This resulted in every departing flight to be delayed for hours. After the fact, TSA acknowledged that they were mistaken. When I landed at PHL last night around 7:30 pm., our pilot noted that between 50 and 60 aircraft (not at the gates) were waiting to either depart or park. What a mess.

I flew in 2 hours late from LGW on Wednesday afternoon due to earlier delays caused by the Tuesday weather problems on the earlier PHL-LGW flight. The good news is that my connection to PHX was already one hour delayed. The bad news was how PHL personnel and the flight crew for Flt. 1011 handled the situation:

1) Only two lines for security rescreening at A-West. The TSA personnel did not make matters any better. Guess they were testy after the first snafu.

2) Very poor communication at the gate regarding the delay. Finally boarded two hours after the original departure time. In first class, we each received one bottle of water. We then sat on the ramp for an additional two hours waiting for over 25 aircraft to depart. No additional service. Couldn’t get an additional bottle of water. Some updates from the flight deck which only added to the frustration.

3) Don’t know why it was taking so long for aircraft to depart. There would be a couple of take-offs in a ten minute span, then nothing (no landings or take-offs for five to ten minutes).

What a way to run an airline!

1) Only two lines for security rescreening at A-West. The TSA personnel did not make matters any better. Guess they were testy after the first snafu.

Remember that this isn't necessarily the fault of US, but rather the TSA


2) Very poor communication at the gate regarding the delay. Finally boarded two hours after the original departure time. In first class, we each received one bottle of water. We then sat on the ramp for an additional two hours waiting for over 25 aircraft to depart. No additional service. Couldn’t get an additional bottle of water. Some updates from the flight deck which only added to the frustration.

Did you ring your call button to get more? I've always noticed that works for me.


3) Don’t know why it was taking so long for aircraft to depart. There would be a couple of take-offs in a ten minute span, then nothing (no landings or take-offs for five to ten minutes).

Could be ATC's fault.

There never has been a "ships in harbor" delay at PIT. US deserves everything that they get at PHL. :mad:

I ran into trouble at PHL last week as well. Out to DFW on Wednesday AM, back in Thursday PM. The airport looked like a refugee shelter early Wednesday AM due to cancelled flights the night before (massive thunderstorms). We were about an hour late getting out.

The way back was equally fun. We circled for about 45 minutes. The pilot finally made an announcement, and got in a nice Southwest dig while he did it. He was explaining that with more flights coming in and out, sometimes we need to circle to free up space. And many of those flights are due to Southwest taking up gate space in PHL. Heh. Got a nice chuckle out of that one.

Could be ATC's fault.

No, it's that PHL (by design) has a nasty habit of becoming a one-runway operation when weather sets it.

this delay, "ships in harbor" happen every so often in phl. if an active ship on duty is arriving/departing in the harbor, for security reasons, flights in/out of phl experience delays so that a/c dont fly over the vessel for safety and security reasons.

Nothing cited as a reason for delays in PHL would surprise me.

Ships in harbor

All employees sleeping

Waxing the runways

All employees drunk

Closed for inventory

Closed to allow sacrifice to Gorzer



Nothing at all would surprise me.

All employees drunk sounds like a good one, as long as passengers get to join in for free ;)