Originally Posted by
Analise
So you don't hold BDL responsible at all for keeping a plane out there for 7 hours? I don't understand that. There was no way of knowing in advance that this October storm would hammer New England as it did. So why didn't BDL get buses to that plane SOONER if they refused to make gates available? Why did it take 7 hours for that to happen?
There is no one responsible party here; and please clarify if you mean BDL the airport authority (the city), or JetBlue station operations at BDL.
Typically, with a storm like this forecasted 28-24 hours out, aviation stakeholders rely on various weather forecasts to guage the severity of the storm, and use that as a tool to decide if full or partial operations are going to run.
What is obvious is this:
*Forecast models called for periods of accumulation, making transit and recovery difficult. These models were available 18-24 hours out, giving plenty of lead time to develope a game plan.
*The failure of the ILS at EWR exacerbated an already poor situation.
*The JetBlue station manager at BDL felt his staffing and facilities were adequate to handle both scheduled and unscheduled arrivals without additional need.
*Actual conditions exceed the forecast, forcing BDL into a situation it couldn't recover from a facilities and manpower perspective.
*Both the BDL airport authority and JetBlue over estimated the ability of their crews to accomodate unscheduled arrivals in such conditions.
*Failure of a good rapport between BDL and the tenant airlines to implement a weather recovery plan.
*Failure of JetBlue to establish a good rapport with its station management to implement a weather recovery plan.