Originally Posted by
CPS89
I was not on the flight, but from the article:
"Based on reporting from 14850, a passenger on the flight has said that they were initially told the flight was being diverted to Syracuse because of “snow on the runway” in Ithaca. However, the passenger said that they were later told that the flight was diverted for “legal reasons.”
Josh Nalley, the Deputy Director at Ithaca Tompkins International Airport has confirmed with 14850 that there are no weather or runway conditions that could have affected incoming flights at the airport.
Additionally, the United Airlines app lists the flight as “canceled” even though flight tracking sites such as FightRadar and FlightAware have identified that the plane has taken a detour and is now landed in Syracuse."
The flight shows as cancelled because the SYR-ITH recovery segment was cancelled once they arranged ground transportation. UA's systems only show the most recent information.
And again, it appears there was some issue getting field condition reports from Ithaca ATC that met GoJet's operational standards for winter weather conditions (another user indicates it was specifically related to braking conditions). These standards are filed with/approved by the FAA as part of being given authority to operate commercial passenger service. If they are not able to get reports to satisfy the requirements of their operational standards then it is not legal for them to land at that airport as it would be in violation of what they have filed with the FAA as part of their operation authority. Again nothing contradictory, poorly explained by the crew? Maybe. Contradictory? No. "Snow on the runway" leading to a "legal" reason preventing landing are absolutely explanations consistent with each other.
I also don't think the crew needs to go into that level of detail with their explanation. If they do, good on them for getting into the nitty gritty that many people aren't going to care about. At the end of the day though they made a decision to land the plane safely at somewhere that met landing conditions they were comfortable with and their company requires. I, and I'm sure the passengers would prefer the inconvenience of landing at SYR instead of sliding off the runway in ITH when landing because they didn't have accurate braking condition reports.