Delta Weather Procedures

[falcondriver]

Can someone give me information on Delta Airlines thunderstorm procedures? I flew from CVG to DFW and diverted to Austin. We penetrated a line of storms on the way. It was the worst flight I have ever been on. They scared everybody on board. They eventually got us to DFW, but I don't think anybody on that plane will fly Delta again.
Thanks
FD

 

[Saluki Dawg]

FalconDriver,

I'll bet you were flying on Tuesday weren't you. That was a NASTY line of T-Storms. I was flying also that day, and believe me when I say that I kept my A/C and my Passengers as far away from those Storms as I possibly could. Of course, I tend to be a weather coward. I have found that I will live a lot longer that way. I'm not sure what Delta's policy is, but mine is to Avoid, Avoid, Avoid at all costs. I believe in never subjecting passengers to that kind of wild ride, if there is anyway at all to avoid it. Unfortunately, I have flown with Captains that did not share my attitude. That can make for a long month. Especially the months of March through June. Sorry to hear about your bad experience.

 

[FlyingSig]

25 nm , just like the AIM

I bet you never flew in weather that was worse then you thought it would be huh?


Oh, if you flew on a MD88/90 the radar sucks. I'd take a Be1900D radar anyday over that one.

 

[falcondriver]

I was on a MD88. The pilots did a great job. The co-pilot was flying. I talked to him after the flight and he said it was really bad weather. I was under the impression that airliners don't subject passengers to that kind of danger but I guess I was wrong.
Thanks
FD

 

[TurboS7]

Did the airplane has a nice paint job? Maybe they were trying to get it to look like the rest of the fleet.

 

[falcondriver]

It got a good washing. Some of the passengers needed to wash their underwear.
FD

 

[Huck]

I've flown a whooooole lot closer to the red in corporate aircraft than in any airliner.

When I first went to 121 flying, I was amazed when a captain deviated 50 miles off course to go around a line. In a turboprop! My King-Aire buddies never swerved, except to hit the weak spot between two red pork-chops on the radar.

I love that Ernie Gann story about approaching a huge line in a DC-2. He asked the captain what he was thinking. "I think we're gonna take a pasting!"

 

[ifly4food]

To the defense of the Delta pilots, I think they tend to be more weather conscious than most airlines. Spend some time on ATL Center freq on a bad weather day and all you hear are Delta requests to deviate around weather. A lot of times you even hear them deviating around "buildups".

As a side note on the original post, I love how passengers say "I'll never fly this airline again" when something like this happens. As if it's the airline's fault!!!

1. I'll bet AA, CAL, and everyone else going into DFW flew through the same weather that day.

2. I GUARANTEE that if Delta gets a cheap fare to somewhere they want to go, they'll "forget" all about this "incident".

Pax crack me up sometimes.

 

[jaybird]

I'm just curious, what exactly can an aircraft handle, thunderstorm wise? Obviously flown at Va, anything from a 172 to a transport category aircraft.

 

[TurboS7]

The problem with flying throught thunderstorms is you only get to fly through the one that takes your wings off-ONCE.