gocaps16
02-23-2004, 11:41 PM
Feburary 20, 2004
Leg #1:
Washington Dulles Intl Airport (IAD) to Cinncinati/So. Kentucky Intl. Airport (CVG)
Aircraft: Canadair CRJ
Flight: 5802
Airline: Delta Connection operated by Comair Airlines
Seat assignment: 11A
The story begins at Dulles Intl Airport, a very pefect day for flying VFR wise. I arrived at
the airport at approx. 2:30pm for my 4:40pm scheduled departure. At the airport was a breeze, I had to
check one baggage for this trip, had an eticket which I immediatly headed for the Delta check in kiosk. Managed to get my boarding passes and checked my bag within 5 minutes
and I proceeded directly to the sercurity checkpoint. I waited about 10-15 minutes or so going to sercurity. I took my time becuase I had my laptop, my camera bag, a jacket, a hat, and my camera lense case.
I was all set, so I headed directly to the assigned gate which was B42 operated by Delta/Comair. I had several hour to kill before we actually boarded so I walked around the B concourse til we were ready to board.
I thought this trip would end out great, but I thought to early. Then I heard the dreaded words. FLIGHT DELAY. The CSR told us that we will depart 20 minutes late, ok, not too bad. At first, they mentioned
that the aircraft was delayed to mechanical reason, which they had 2 mechs on board checking what the problem was. Nothing major seemed wrong, so we were able to board enroute to CVG.
We pushed back out of gate B42 no problem, kinda late but oh well, pilots could make the time up. But the worst has not yet to come. Trust me. We tookoff from runway 19L, weather reported at Dulles south winds, partly cloudy with a chance of a "hit or miss" sun, fairly warm.
We climbed to our assigned altitude of FL220 and most of the flight portion went smooth. Flying time was 1 hour and 5 minutes, the flight attendant served us a choice of preztels and triscruits snakcs and a beverage.
As we began closer to CVG, our captain came on the PA system and said that we were unable to land at CVG at this time becuase the winds were blowing up to and over 40 knots.
Air traffic controllers instructed us to remain in a holding pattern for 20 minutes and the passengers were praying that the weather will clear up. 20 minutes came by while flying in circles, pilot came back on and said that we were low on fuel and
that the weather conditions at CVG has gotten worse, so the captain diverted us to Lexington, Kentucky. The flight started to get more rough. As we descended into the grey overcast clouds, rime icing started producing on the leading edges of our wings.
I could see the anti-ice was activated as the ice started to melt. Final approach into LEX was very bumpy due to the wind gusts but we made it fine in one piece. Hats off to the crew.
After landing at Lexington, we taxied to a openly large ramp. Our crew would not let us go inside the terminal. Another call from the captain, that the tower said that CVG has issued a 1 hour ground stop for ALL arrivals.
We all waited in our seats in a small crampy CRJ, I was unlucky to sit next to a moderate-large size guy, ugh. Thank you, Mister sharing seats for 4 hours. We all got the good news after waiting well over an hour that the ground stop was lifted at CVG.
Three Comair jets were also diverted to LEX, while others were diverted to Dayton, Ohio and other cities surrounding Cinncinati. We were number 3 for depature out of LEX and had to wait a 5 minute interval for each departing aircraft to allow a 25 miles radial speration for flights inbound to CVG.
We FINALLY arrived at CVG at 9:00pm while we WERE scheduled to arrive at 6:19pm. Unfortunatly, I had to connect to LAX which the flight was suppost to leave at 8:30pm. I thought I would be spending a night in CVG instead of having fun in LA. After I deplaned, i was reliefed that our flight to LAX was also delayed til 10:00pm.
So, I have 40 minutes to get to my gate, good time. But it's not over yet. I got to the gate at CVG, at B5, the plane wasn't at the gate from her flight from ATL. This plane is a Boeing 767-400, finally showed up.
Delta 679
Boeing 767-400 scheduled downgraded to a Boeing 757
CVG-LAX
Delta CSRs came on the PA and announced that this flight till be delayed for an hour due to mechanical problems. They said the flaps were inop and that flight was under an emergency when it landed and possible
they would downsize our aircraft from a 767-400 to a 757-200. Well, you guessed it. It did happen. On the monitor, now our flight is delayed til 12:45am. The CSR came on and said that our 767-400 was "unsafe" to fly so they canceled that plane and told that we will now be boarding from gate B07 and that our aircraft will now be a 757. Oh wow, with 250 passengers in a 757? No way, i thought.
Now we are waiting til our backup 757 pilots to show up so we can get out of here. Boy, what an experience.
After waiting 5 or so hours at the gate waiting for our flight officer, Delta Airlines FINALLY got a hold of one after all. Get this..our lucky first officer was the 40th pilot to be called. Delta delayed our flight for another
2 hours so they could give the pilot some time to get to the plane. He was on his way while we wait. Delta's CSR kept a hold of him on his cell, so they notified us some updates and told that he was on his way.
They told us that our co-pilot would arrive at the plane at 1:30am, so our plan was that they will start to let us board the plane at 1:00am so when the first officer gets on the plane, we will immediately be on our way.
if he didn't show up after 1:30am, then our flight will be canceled. WE very very lucky enough to board the 757 at 1am, and our co-pilot showed up at 1:23am so we will be leaving for LAX. At 1:30am, we pushed back and we were on our way.
We were the only departure at CVG. The 80% of the flight, we were in moderate to heavy turbulence. Delta gave us a free complimentary snack that was supposed to be "fore sale." They handed us Pringles chips, a big bag of cookies like you could get
at grocery stores, and drinks. Our entertainment movie was "Stuck by You." I watched it and took a short nap til we approached LAX. The weather at LAX was good at 3am and we were vectored for runway 7L at LAX and stopped at our gate at 3:30am. (5 1/2 hours late)
I apologize to Matt Wilmott Sharp, Clovis Bouhier, and Chris Kilroy for showing up at the Embassy Suites hotel at 4am. But I was happy to finally show up.
Leg #1:
Washington Dulles Intl Airport (IAD) to Cinncinati/So. Kentucky Intl. Airport (CVG)
Aircraft: Canadair CRJ
Flight: 5802
Airline: Delta Connection operated by Comair Airlines
Seat assignment: 11A
The story begins at Dulles Intl Airport, a very pefect day for flying VFR wise. I arrived at
the airport at approx. 2:30pm for my 4:40pm scheduled departure. At the airport was a breeze, I had to
check one baggage for this trip, had an eticket which I immediatly headed for the Delta check in kiosk. Managed to get my boarding passes and checked my bag within 5 minutes
and I proceeded directly to the sercurity checkpoint. I waited about 10-15 minutes or so going to sercurity. I took my time becuase I had my laptop, my camera bag, a jacket, a hat, and my camera lense case.
I was all set, so I headed directly to the assigned gate which was B42 operated by Delta/Comair. I had several hour to kill before we actually boarded so I walked around the B concourse til we were ready to board.
I thought this trip would end out great, but I thought to early. Then I heard the dreaded words. FLIGHT DELAY. The CSR told us that we will depart 20 minutes late, ok, not too bad. At first, they mentioned
that the aircraft was delayed to mechanical reason, which they had 2 mechs on board checking what the problem was. Nothing major seemed wrong, so we were able to board enroute to CVG.
We pushed back out of gate B42 no problem, kinda late but oh well, pilots could make the time up. But the worst has not yet to come. Trust me. We tookoff from runway 19L, weather reported at Dulles south winds, partly cloudy with a chance of a "hit or miss" sun, fairly warm.
We climbed to our assigned altitude of FL220 and most of the flight portion went smooth. Flying time was 1 hour and 5 minutes, the flight attendant served us a choice of preztels and triscruits snakcs and a beverage.
As we began closer to CVG, our captain came on the PA system and said that we were unable to land at CVG at this time becuase the winds were blowing up to and over 40 knots.
Air traffic controllers instructed us to remain in a holding pattern for 20 minutes and the passengers were praying that the weather will clear up. 20 minutes came by while flying in circles, pilot came back on and said that we were low on fuel and
that the weather conditions at CVG has gotten worse, so the captain diverted us to Lexington, Kentucky. The flight started to get more rough. As we descended into the grey overcast clouds, rime icing started producing on the leading edges of our wings.
I could see the anti-ice was activated as the ice started to melt. Final approach into LEX was very bumpy due to the wind gusts but we made it fine in one piece. Hats off to the crew.
After landing at Lexington, we taxied to a openly large ramp. Our crew would not let us go inside the terminal. Another call from the captain, that the tower said that CVG has issued a 1 hour ground stop for ALL arrivals.
We all waited in our seats in a small crampy CRJ, I was unlucky to sit next to a moderate-large size guy, ugh. Thank you, Mister sharing seats for 4 hours. We all got the good news after waiting well over an hour that the ground stop was lifted at CVG.
Three Comair jets were also diverted to LEX, while others were diverted to Dayton, Ohio and other cities surrounding Cinncinati. We were number 3 for depature out of LEX and had to wait a 5 minute interval for each departing aircraft to allow a 25 miles radial speration for flights inbound to CVG.
We FINALLY arrived at CVG at 9:00pm while we WERE scheduled to arrive at 6:19pm. Unfortunatly, I had to connect to LAX which the flight was suppost to leave at 8:30pm. I thought I would be spending a night in CVG instead of having fun in LA. After I deplaned, i was reliefed that our flight to LAX was also delayed til 10:00pm.
So, I have 40 minutes to get to my gate, good time. But it's not over yet. I got to the gate at CVG, at B5, the plane wasn't at the gate from her flight from ATL. This plane is a Boeing 767-400, finally showed up.
Delta 679
Boeing 767-400 scheduled downgraded to a Boeing 757
CVG-LAX
Delta CSRs came on the PA and announced that this flight till be delayed for an hour due to mechanical problems. They said the flaps were inop and that flight was under an emergency when it landed and possible
they would downsize our aircraft from a 767-400 to a 757-200. Well, you guessed it. It did happen. On the monitor, now our flight is delayed til 12:45am. The CSR came on and said that our 767-400 was "unsafe" to fly so they canceled that plane and told that we will now be boarding from gate B07 and that our aircraft will now be a 757. Oh wow, with 250 passengers in a 757? No way, i thought.
Now we are waiting til our backup 757 pilots to show up so we can get out of here. Boy, what an experience.
After waiting 5 or so hours at the gate waiting for our flight officer, Delta Airlines FINALLY got a hold of one after all. Get this..our lucky first officer was the 40th pilot to be called. Delta delayed our flight for another
2 hours so they could give the pilot some time to get to the plane. He was on his way while we wait. Delta's CSR kept a hold of him on his cell, so they notified us some updates and told that he was on his way.
They told us that our co-pilot would arrive at the plane at 1:30am, so our plan was that they will start to let us board the plane at 1:00am so when the first officer gets on the plane, we will immediately be on our way.
if he didn't show up after 1:30am, then our flight will be canceled. WE very very lucky enough to board the 757 at 1am, and our co-pilot showed up at 1:23am so we will be leaving for LAX. At 1:30am, we pushed back and we were on our way.
We were the only departure at CVG. The 80% of the flight, we were in moderate to heavy turbulence. Delta gave us a free complimentary snack that was supposed to be "fore sale." They handed us Pringles chips, a big bag of cookies like you could get
at grocery stores, and drinks. Our entertainment movie was "Stuck by You." I watched it and took a short nap til we approached LAX. The weather at LAX was good at 3am and we were vectored for runway 7L at LAX and stopped at our gate at 3:30am. (5 1/2 hours late)
I apologize to Matt Wilmott Sharp, Clovis Bouhier, and Chris Kilroy for showing up at the Embassy Suites hotel at 4am. But I was happy to finally show up.