Key points:
-hundreds of flights delayed
-aircraft inspected for hail damage
-thunderstorms expected through Tuesday
Flight delays and cancellations are expected to ripple through the system for another couple of days after a severe thunderstorm prompted an almost total evacuation of the Atlanta Hartsfield Airport control tower and grounded aircraft. Delta said its Atlanta hub was seriously disrupted. “The storm caused hundreds of cancellations, diversions and delays across our entire system as well as an evacuation and temporary power loss at the ATL air traffic control tower,” the airline said in a statement. “More than 100 Delta aircraft required inspection due to hail, and we anticipate several hundred more cancellations this weekend as we work to safely recover.”
By Sunday, only a handful of cancellations were being reported in Atlanta on FlightAware’s Misery Map, but about two-thirds of flights were delayed. Houston, which is on the same storm track as Atlanta, had about the same percentage of problem flights while Charlotte, the destination of the rough weather, was almost as bad. The stormy pattern is expected to continue through Tuesday. The cumulative effects of the disruptions could be seen across the country as far as Seattle, which was under sunny skies but still showing about 25% of flights delayed or cancelled.
Biggest problem is that the airlines schedule their flights as if it is VFR weather all the time. So when there is a weather event it slows everything down. The hailstorm in ATL is just a rare event, that required inspections for hail damage. The ATL storm is a perfect example of one of the weaknesses of the hub system most airlines like to use. If a hub airport has delays, those delays ripple through that airlines’ entire system. Next is the shortage of controllers. They can only do so much. On the other hand I have seen areas shut down for weather that could have been navigated. ADS-B has not resulted in the promised efficiency that was sold to those who had to pay many $ for equipment. Instead it has been used more for enforcement and user/landing fees, something it was not originally intended for. Until more runways/airports are built, very little will change. Can’t blame this on GA, since GA is not allowed into DCA, the DCA area airspace is a perfect example of airlines overloading the system.
The FAA and the airlines need to be planning for how we’re going to cope with these types of events as they occur more frequently. We are playing with loaded dice.
My brain is slightly triggered by the image. Why is it that representations of Misery below 50% run counterclockwise from the 12 o’clock position while Miseries above 50% run clockwise?