SDF_Traveler

Note to DTW travellers this am (if you're not at the mall for the 5am sales ) :

Due to WEATHER/LOW CIGS VIS CAT I/II ONLY. CAT III A/C ARE RELEASED, there is a Traffic Management Program in effect for traffic arriving Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, Detroit, MI (DTW)

ALSO:

AUS - CAT III only due to limited vis

LAX - CAT III only due to limited vis

oliver2002

All aircraft with ILS are doing fine into DTW... the smaller aircrafts have a serious problem:
http://flightaware.com/live/airport/KDTW

A SAAB from Wisconsin is busy circling the skies even though it took of late:
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/MES3036

A E135 from LGA is merrily circling Canadian airspace:
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/EGF869

A NW 752 is on track though:

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/NWA345

As all A320s and widebodies. The RJs and DC9 seem to be in hold patterns.

SDF_Traveler

That's what I've noticed -- been playing around with FlightAware too

All of the A319/A320 and 757s are CAT III, but the DC-9's, CRJ/ERJ, Saabs, and RJ-85's are having problems it seems.

A DC-9 from ATL seems to be going in loops half-way between CLE and DTW:

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/NWA476

Edit: Looks like GRR has received some extra traffic:

AA 1766 ORD-DTW (MD-83)
NW 3743 MEM-DTW (CRJ)
NW 1420 MDW-DTW (DC-9-30)

FNT as well:

NW 3042 CIU-DTW (Saab 340)
NW 5879 ERI-DTW (CRJ)
NW 2745 ITH-DTW (Saab 340)
NW 2874 YOW-DTW (CRJ)

LAN too:

NW 2849 YQB-DTW (CRJ)
Mesa/UA 7207 IAD-DTW (CRJ)
NW 3763 CLE-DTW (CRJ)
NW 2961 AZO-DTW (CRJ)

It wouldn't surprise me if there were other diversions - but it seems some flights just got ax'd.

I was supposed to see my neighbor off to the airport this morning and her flight (RJ-85) was cancelled. Reduced schedule today ex-SDF, but last I heard they re-booked her on the afternoon RJ-85 flight.

socrates

Yeah it was that way yesterday too...very very wierd fog...very thick in spots and none in others...would roll in and out within mins and then back in again

avidflyer

LAX (tune soCal approach) sounds like its doing better now....

http://www.liveatc.net/topfeeds.php

AviationFan

Does anyone know if Northwest trains their A319/A320/757 pilots such that they are current for CAT-III operations? From what I heard (not specifically about Northwest, just in general), the flight crew is often more of a limiting factor than the aircraft.

- Martin

kss5555

This weather this morning seems to have caused a lot of problems on many of the morning CRJ, Avro, and DC-9 flights into Detroit. Just a random sample of flights from nwa.com show that both the morning Chicago-Midway and Chicago-O'Hare flights were diverted to GRR and MBS, the two Toledo morning flights were cancelled, the early morning MBS flight was delayed 4 hours, a flight on a DC-9 from Minneapolis arrived 2 hours late after departing on time, the morning Buffalo-DTW flight was delayed 4 hours, the Rochester, NY and Lexington, KY morning flights were delayed 2 hours, as well as, the only flight to and from MYR cancelled as well.

geoffco

Nice to see that my sleepy little home airport of LAN took some diversions... highly unusual for them! I'm glad that I escaped Thurs.

doobierw

All aircrew should be trained to the full capabilities of the aircraft. When going through initial training on that aircraft, all aircrew receive CAT III training (if the aircraft is capable).

Low time Captains (<100 hours) can have some restrictions that can come into play. Until they reach the 100 hour mark on that specific aircraft they are referred to as 'high-mins' Captains, and the minimums for the approaches they can fly are raised. Therefore it IS possible to be on a CAT III aircraft and have an aircrew that is not legal to fly the approach.

An additional constraint is having a maintenance deferral on the aircraft, which renders it unable to complete a CAT III, and be downgraded to CAT II capability for instance. If a certified LLM (Lower Landing Minimums) Mechanic did not replace an LLM required component, the aircraft can be dispatched, albeit under higher mins. Again, a CAT III capable aircraft might be dispatched and limited to CAT I or II operations.

It's a bit complicated......but to answer your question: All aircrew are trained to utilize the full capability of the aircraft. Several other factors sometimes come into play.......

DRW

BobH

We started a segment run at FNT and they had abaout a half dozen Saabs and CRJ's there at noon -- I didn't get all the flight numbers, but one was and ERI-DTW flight -- it got to DTW at 1:30 PM, some 6 hours late.

Fog was really bad in the DTW area Friday morning

Bob H