DL 522 SFO-SLC 10/19/19 Extended Delay Reason?

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Oct 21, 2019, 8:35 am

JSprague24

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DL 522 SFO-SLC 10/19/19 Extended Delay Reason?

Anyone know why DL 522 (A220) flew SLC-SFO, arrived on time, and had a more than three hour delay on the return trip to SLC on Saturday?

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/...025Z/KSFO/KSLC

I was supposed to be on the flight but had to cancel the entire trip due to illness; it probably worked out in the end, as I'd have misconnected at SLC trying to get back to CMH.

Oct 21, 2019, 9:21 am

hortkie

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No idea- but very interesting flight data - about an hour into the flight dropped altitude from 30K ft down below 10K ft and continued around 10K ft for next hour into SLC.

Oct 21, 2019, 9:30 am

bubbashow

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Quote:

Originally Posted by hortkie

No idea- but very interesting flight data - about an hour into the flight dropped altitude from 30K ft down below 10K ft and continued around 10K ft for next hour into SLC.

Is that a flight data error, or can you get into SLC at 10K with the surrounding terrain?

Oct 21, 2019, 9:33 am

jrl767

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if I were a betting man, I’d say that sounds like a cabin pressurization issue

Oct 21, 2019, 9:34 am

DLATL777

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Quote:

Originally Posted by hortkie

No idea- but very interesting flight data - about an hour into the flight dropped altitude from 30K ft down below 10K ft and continued around 10K ft for next hour into SLC.

That would seem like cabin depressurization? Perhaps the aircraft had to go into MX/they had to find a replacement swap?

If coming from the West its mostly flat, desert terrain so they could do it (once over the rockies).

Oct 21, 2019, 11:42 am

TuxTom

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Quote:

Originally Posted by hortkie

No idea- but very interesting flight data - about an hour into the flight dropped altitude from 30K ft down below 10K ft and continued around 10K ft for next hour into SLC.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bubbashow

Is that a flight data error, or can you get into SLC at 10K with the surrounding terrain?

It looks like the decent was over the Bonneville salt flats, so no terrain issues. I just looked at a few different flights on this and similar routes, and it actually looks like they started the decent a bit further east (closer) than most flights approaching SLC from the west, so perhaps that explains the relatively quick decent. Following that they followed a pretty standard pattern passing north of the Oquirrh mountains before turning south to loop around for the approach on runway 34L. However, around 3-4 miles out they pulled up and climbed back up to 10k and re-entered the pattern. So the extended time at 10k was really just how long it took to get back up and and come back around for a second attempt.

sdadept and hortkie like this.

Oct 23, 2019, 9:44 am

JSprague24

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Thanks for the replies. Any word on if there was a depressurization or if it was just a FlightAware glitch?

Oct 23, 2019, 10:28 am

crank1225

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Same plane utilized less than 1 hour later for flight to IAH - https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/n107du

Oct 23, 2019, 5:43 pm

TuxTom

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Quote:

Originally Posted by JSprague24

Thanks for the replies. Any word on if there was a depressurization or if it was just a FlightAware glitch?

Neither. The descent followed a normal approach from the west so there's nothing to suggest depressurization. Look at the FlightAware track closely and you'll see they descended below 10k' on final approach to runway 34L but pulled up about 3 miles out and climbed back to 10k for another attempt. No way of knowing why they pulled up on the first attempt, but most likely it was ATC related.