magic111

You might not have seen these.
Many thanks to the locals who have offered assistance.

The Stranded by Volcano Meet up and Offers of Assistance Thread!

Stranded FT assistance thread (911)

corbetti

I was actually inbound on AA 2067 (or was it 2607..?) from ORD, and woke up when we landed in kci instead. Ended up making a slow motion beeline to the hertz counter, where we saw the finest examples of both strangers bonding with each other (the line at every rental counter was 4 deep), and of course the occasional DYKWIA trying to cut to the front saying:

"I'm gold but my name isn't on the board".

We would just laugh at them and say "back of the line, buddy, we are ALL gold".

In rental car by 11:15, home in St louis at 3 am. Swung by the airport, totally blocked off by police, asked the officer how I was supposed to retrieve my car from the garage and he said I could walk in, but there was no driving. So I went home, and now after a few hours of sleep I'm heading back to drop off rental car and retrieve my vehicle. Thankfully I thought to park in the lowest level of the garage instead of the roof deck!

SDF_Traveler

I heard the same as well. I've also heard some talk about moving some operations to Mid America (BLV), the white elephant across the river. However, the politicians in St. Louis appear to be playing this down as a "non-option."

To me, it looks like it would be a viable option depending on what can be done at Lambert in the short term. I suspect the politicians are downplaying this because they know Mid America is a potential solution and it could take business & revenue away from Lambert, St. Louis, and the State of Missouri.

The passenger terminal at Mid America isn't huge, but they have unused infrastructure including check-in space, a security checkpoint, and gates.

I could see Mid America as a short term solution for some flights or for a carrier or two.

In fact, I noticed an AA Eagle flight arrived at BLV today:

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/EGF9500 (DFW to BLV)

The aircraft did a quick turn and is now flying back to DFW as:

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/EGF9501

As to the purpose of the flight, I can only speculate -- if I had to guess, it would be an employee flight to transport AA employees to/from DFW HQ.

1337h4x0r

So, CNN is all over the indefinite closure, making it its top news story. There is some horrible video of large windows shattering and other stuff like that.

What's up with all of these storms? Here in RDU half the city was out of power for a few days because of tornado, then ORD and DFW had Thunderpocalypse, now STL pwnt severely. Maybe somebody is mad about not having FIRST on EXP upgraded passes...

KansasMike

Here is a report, written at the time, on the tornado as it was about the strike the airport. Lambert was hit about 8:10pm: http://meteorologicalmusings.blogspo...t-airport.html

Here is a summary of the tornado written a few minute ago: http://meteorologicalmusings.blogspo...-st-louis.html
There is a real problem with tornado warnings and aviation. The FAA will not allow tornado warnings to go to air traffic control and they are not given to pilots as part of official weather briefings. I discuss briefly in this posting.

And, here is a summary written last night: http://meteorologicalmusings.blogspo...is-damage.html

hockeystl

Video of the destruction at Lambert here:

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/...rt.KPLR?hpt=T1

Frisco Flier

Looks like AA has some maintenance to do.

Man_Utd_Fan

Does anyone know the path of this storm? I can't reach my family up there it just goes straight to voicemail.

SDF_Traveler

I'm glad to hear that you're safe and that you were able to reach out here on FlyerTalk.

I first heard about the Tornado @ STL last night during a weather update here (the same storm system hit us in Louisville). The initial pics I saw were outright scary.

I didn't see this thread until this morning, but I am glad you're safe, along with all the passengers on your flight.

My thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected by the recent severe weather outbreak.

With respect to airports & tornadoes: Several years ago I was on a 757-300 from LAX to MSP. It was obvious there were storms in the area as we were landing at MSP; as the main gear made contact with the runway, I could hear the tornado sirens. We made a fast taxi and deplaned.

Inside the terminal announcements were made to take shelter and to keep away from glass. Most people went about business as usual, as if there wasn't a tornado warning. Luckily, there was no tornado because IF there was, there would have been a lot of injuries, or worse, as the terminal was crowded and very few people even attempted to take shelter.

A lot of us in "tornado country" don't take warnings as seriously as we should; we're used to the sirens going off, getting a t-storm, and nothing happening. Your experience is a sobering wake-up call that warnings do need to be taken seriously.

Thanks for reaching out and I'm happy to hear you're safe.

UAL123

The following is a link to a map showing storm reports: http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/sgx/kml/lsr.php?cwa=lsx

hockeystl

Mayor Slay just said they're hoping to be operating at 70% capacity by tomorrow.

Live presser can be streamed here:
http://www.kmov.com/home/Watch-live-...117035813.html

sweeper20

In what way? You have pilots on the plane - they are in contact with the tower or their own operations. If they aren't I'd guess they have cell phones and could call 911 - lets go to the extreme and neither pilot has a cell phone - I'm sure someone on the plane would offer up theirs! Pilots also have the ability to access via their own "email" to their operations, so even without voice, they would be in contact. What are Flyertalk members going to do? Grab a stair truck and head on over? Flood an already taxed 911 system with reports of people stuck on a plane at STL? You have 100+ people on this plane - its not like he was out in a field under some debris - Fire, Rescue and EMS will clear all the planes to check for passengers as is SOP for any possible Mass Casualty. This guy was already on the phone with a local radio station, so he cleary has access. Its interesting to see the post for sure, but this isn't the place to post a true emergency while its happening.

austin_modern

The question must be asked: Just how many miles should one expect with getting caught up with a tornado on the runway?

Man_Utd_Fan

Thanks. Looks like they should be ok might have lost power and phones have died. Guess my surprise easter visit is off.

For once it's a good thing Lambert isn't as busy as it used to be. Could have been much worse if this happened 10 yrs. ago

hockeystl

Sorry to interrupt the <redacted> contest but I figured I'd provide an update.


They just announced that as long as AmerenUE can re-establish power then all carriers in Terminal 2 (WN + charters) and Concourse A (DL, UA, CO and US) should be operating tomorrow.

All carriers in Concourse C (AA, F6, 9K and FL) are still a work in progress as to when ops will continue.