DELee

Well, isn't it Windsday after all..

(hat tip to Winnie)

David

emcampbe

UA has always flown mainline into SJC (though admittedly there was a period when there was more regional than now).

I’ve flown from DEN to SJC and vv. many times on 319/320, and also, IIRC, 737 and maybe even 757 back in the day (and yes, also CR7). And I’m pretty sure IAH has always been 737s.

GoSh4rks

Yes, I flew on a UA 752 in and out of SJC in 2007.

findark

Without pulling historical METAR, when it's rainy in SFO the wind is normally coming from unusual directions that don't facilitate 28 ops. Blind guess would be that the wind was more easterly earlier, and of course it's a massive hassle to switch runway directions.

The standard config for rain is usually departures on the 10s and arrivals on 19L (19R if you can manage short-field), and so when the wind is temporarily like that they'll pull arrivals onto the 10s. Not uncommon for temporary outages on the cross runways - I remember another time where all traffic was being done on the 19s and they had some heavies parked out by the 10s desperately waiting for a gap in the crosswinds so they could get out.

Also if memory serves, switching between 10 and 28 involves Norcal shuffling all of the area traffic patterns.

docbert

Around the same time that UA2034 diverted to SJC, BA287 (an A380!) diverted to OAK after 2 failed attempts at landing at SFO - the first on 19L/R and then the second on 10L/R. According to flightaware they got down to about 1000 feet on each attempt before going around. After nearly 3 hours on the ground at OAK they had a 24 minute flight back over to SFO (landing on 10L)

The fact than they first attempted 19 potentially explains the UA pilots request for that runway - sounds like it was at least in use around the time (The BA attempt on 19 was about 23 minutes before UA2034's go-around).

Live4Upgrades

Are the planes immediately gassed then sent up to SFO with the PAXs? Or are the PAXs put on a bus and sent to SFO (I remember UAX to SBN always got canceled due to turbo-props unreliability in the winter years ago and they bused the PAXs to/from ORD); and then the equipment eventually flies only with crew to SFO?

BlueZebra

Sometimes all of the above.

LarryJ

There are a number of challenges that will determine how quickly the diverted flight can be turned.

The diversion station was staffed for their normal flight schedule. (In today's environment, that alone is often a challenge) They will likely be constraints on space, personnel, and support from the fuel contractor that can cause delays in preparing the flight for departure.

When the diversion airport is in close, and multiple flights have diverted, there will likely be ATC constraints for departures back to the original destination. Ground stops, ground delay programs, and call-for-release programs are likely to add additional delay.

When the diversion is an international flight, you also have customs and immigration restrictions. CBP is unlikely to be staffed for a few unexpected widebodies who want to deplane at their airport.

If it was a long-haul flight, crew timeouts can also come into play. Same with shorter range flights at the end of the crew member's duty day.

BelmontRef

Many years ago, United flew heavies into SJC. Not widebodies but stretch DC-8s which were officially heavies. My personal flight log shows eight DC-8 arrivals on UA at SJC, seven of them on "United 583 Heavy", the 7pm-ish ORD-SJC flight in the 1980s.