Originally Posted by BearX220
280 souls on board. Aircraft finally landed SEA at 630am local time, 18 hours behind schedule. Real question is why Moses Lake, with no infrastructure to speak of, was primary divert option... with YVR and PDX just as close.
I was in Vancouver yesterday and we had intense fog on and off all day. Moses Lake is on the "dry" side of the Cascades and generally has excellent weather. I'm surprised they sent the plane there, though, it's a commuter airport with only a few flights a day to Seattle on Big Sky Airlines (nineteen-passenger Metro III and Metro 23 aircraft.) In no way is the airport equipped to handle the passengers of a DC-10. Saying that, the airfield itself was a good choice as Moses Lake is a heavy jet training and testing facility used by the Boeing Company, Japan Airlines, the U.S. Military and many other air carriers from around the world. It's also an alternate landing site for the Space Shuttle, and there is a move among residents of Grant County to make Moses Lake an "official" space port for a future space plane. With 4,700 acres and a main runway 13,500 feet long, MWH is one of the largest airports in the United States.