Short Final: Stop Where You Are

Editorial Staff

Monday, February 03, 2020 at 05:54 PM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Widespread afternoon thunderstorms severely limited available airspace for IFR flights, leading to operational challenges.
Air traffic control denied requests for higher altitudes (above FL 260) due to airspace saturation from weather and existing traffic.
Congestion was so severe that one Delta flight was instructed to hold for 20-30 minutes.
The incident highlighted how severe weather can drastically shrink effective airspace, even in typically open areas.

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This past June we were returning from Canada to Colorado in mid‑afternoon IFR in our PA 32. The typical afternoon thunderstorms were in full swing. As we progressed homeward just east of a several hundred-mile-long line of cumulonimbus buildups we heard Salt Lake Center clearing departing flights up to FL 260. Nothing higher. All requests for higher were denied with the same explanation—all the available (what there was of it because of the weather) airspace above FL 260 was already saturated with traffic. The controller was juggling airplanes as best as he could.

Then came the icing on the cake. “Delta XYZ, stop right where you are. Holding legs and direction at your discretion. I’ll get back to you in 20 to 30 minutes!”

The Big Sky Country gets smaller when the thunderstorms proliferate, and they were proliferating.

Alan R. von Ahlefeldt
Parker, CO