"Local Weather" code for maintenance issue?
 

I'm on DL 6254 this morning from MSP to IAH. It looks like the flight landed on time into MSP but its not at the gate and now there is a 2 hour delay due to "local weather". These IS fog at MSP this morning but if the flight landed on time surely it can leave on time? Fog mostly affects landings. I'm thinking this is actually a maintenance issue but they don't want to admit it. Thoughts? How can I actually find out?

Just because the previous flight landed on time does not mean there is no weather issue. For example, if wind changed and the airport was forced to use a runway configuration that is not ideal when it is not visual flight conditions that could slow down operations. Looking at DL6254 this morning, it is showing a 30 minute delay not 2 hours

The FAA is not showing any delays at MSP or IAH.

Those don't display all delays, only those where the FAA is actively delaying all flights due to something. Also the delay can be sew here enroute. Doesn't need to be at MSP/IAH.

There was dense fog this morning at MSP. The FAA delays have cleared now that the sun is up and has cooked most of it off.

My casual observance a few hours ago saw numerous delays and even some diversions for flights headed to MSP.

Looks like OP is taxing for takeoff with only a 50 minute delay. Flightstats is showing that 4 inbound MSP GoJet flights were diverted this morning (to EAU and FSD) -- 6187, 6265, 6216, 6202. OP, have you considered that the pilots on one of the diverted flights may have been scheduled to work your flight? Just because the aircraft is at the gate doesn't mean there are actually pilots available to fly it.

It was very thick fog by the airport this morning. While it may not close the airport, if take off and landings would normally be space out X minutes apart, the lower visibility may require them be spaced out X+5 min apart, is going to delay some flights.

In situations like this, I have alwayz offered my services . . . .

I had a handful of flying lessons in a Cessna 152 about 30 years ago!

:D

Having worked in dispatch, I can shed some light on this. Most regionals don't bother to get their pilots Category III ILS certified. It's too expensive (used to be about $20K+ per pilot in early 2000s) and there's too much turnover to justify it with their thin margins. I'm also not sure if all regional airplanes have the equipment for it either. Almost all regional pilots are only Cat I certified (which is good enough 99% of the time). Cat I means they usually require at least 1800ft visibility and Vertical Vis of 200 feet to land* IIRC. It's (extremely) rare to not have at least these conditions. Probably less than one day every few years for 90+% airports. Cat III is auto-land, where little to no visibility (Cat IIIc) is required.

*When conditions are too bad to land, they are often too bad to takeoff as well. Here's why: In case of emergency, the pilots have to either A) be able to return to the field (which they wouldn't if conditions worse than those mentioned above) B) File with a TALT (Takeoff Alternate) which is essentially an airport nearby that they could land at in case of emergency. Problem with TALT's is that they're usually experiencing the same weather. When this happens, the flight cannot leave until either A or B is above minimums.

If this was the case, it's a weather delay. An avoidable one if money were no object, but peeps don't seem to like paying higher fares.

I've never seen a mechanical delay deceptively coded as weather or other passenger pay. The worst scenario is simply uncoded.

That was very insightful and helpful. Thank you for the info.

Same reason flights can get cxld for mechanicals. There just isn't a way to have enough extra planes everywhere to cover when a bad one hits in the wrong place...it would be great if DL could have another 200-300 back up frames so there can always be a swap ready. It's just not practical.

This was indeed an odd flight. We changed gates 3 times in about 15 min and then ended up taking a fully loaded flight that was about to depart to Chicago and pulled everyone off of it, loaded it up ourselves, and went on our way. First time I had seen that in my 1.5m miles!

Yes, it really was foggy this morning in Minneapolis -

http://www.citypages.com/news/you-ne...otos/414400303

According to flightstats.com it was only 2 in 20 minutes. Looks like the aircraft that had been scheduled to operate 6254 diverted to EAU coming up from STL. They chose to then swap it with the aircraft operating the ORD flight about 7 minutes before the ORD flight was supposed to leave the gate. Sucks for the ORD passengers.

There's multiple MSP-ORD flights including on UA. Easy decision to give the ORD plane to IAH.