Bad day for flying...

[USAF Pilot 07]

Weather is pretty bad out there today... LGA was reporting winds 080@26G34 earlier which really doesn't help much in terms of runway selection... Taking a look at PASSUR it looks like a lot of aircraft are holding over PA and South Jersey.. Looks like there may be a lot of diverts and cancellations today at all three airports...

I'm supposed to fly out tomorrow, so hopefully this whallop of a storm moves out quickly!

[hiss srq]

It is defineately pretty crappy. The ocean is almost reaching the boardwalk in Long Beach and when I looked out the bedroom window at the bay this morning I saw so many white tops I thought I had woken up in the cabin of a FLL flight for a minute.

[USAF Pilot 07]

Yea, I was in AC earlier and the bay looked like it had waves you could surf on! Definitely sporty out there for flying!

I'm listening to LiveATC for LGA tower (on the bus from AC that has wifi and am bored)... Seems like they are using the ILS to 13, but they keep calling winds 070@24G36. Maybe my calculations are off, but wagging it, it seems like that's about a 30 knot crosswind on landing for RWY13.

I know the airlines are a lot less conservative on their limits for a lot of things than we are in the AF, and from talking to several airline pilots a lot gets "overlooked", but that still seems like an awfully high crosswind component for a wet runway. I don't think or know why anyone would take the sustained wind when determining crosswinds, but maybe that is common practice among the airlines. I guess those the MD80s, Airbuses and regional jets must have high wet xwind limits. In the KC-10 our limits are 31 dry and 19 wet (unless it's grooved or porous then it's 21). I know we are larger and have more to get pushed around, but that still seems like a large spread...

Anyone have any insight?

[cancidas]

Anyone have any insight?
even though i haven't had an arrival for some time, i've gotten reports of wind shear on final for rwy 4.

the last two arrivals for 13 went around as well, +/- 15kts the entire way down final.

[AirtrafficController]

At Kennedy its been pretty bad. There a lot of go-arounds and very few landings. Current estimated winds are 090@37G56. Wind shear reported loss of 20knots from 1000ft and gain of 15knots around 500ft. Severe turbulence all the way down. Some outbound flights are going back to the gate due to high winds.

[emshighway]

Glad I came back last night. It wasn't bad at all, 10 minutes late.

[Matt Molnar]

Reports that JFK's wind measuring equipment is now broken.

Gusts are up to 64mph according to NWS.

[Speedbird1]

Due to today's nasty weather and strong easterly winds, JFK has been using the ILS 13L Approach most of the day. Departures are few and will be either delayed or canceled. Of course, the closure of 13R isn't helping. My lights were flickering before and I have a small flood by the windows. I heard that this nor'easter could have meant up to 40 inches of snow. Since 1 inch of snow costs NYC $1 million in snow removal, think of the savings!

[USAF Pilot 07]

Winds 40 degrees off gusting close to 60 knots? 20 knot loss shear with moderate turbulence on final? 5000' RVR? Don't see how anyone could be legal (except those carriers that apparently don't have max x-wind limitations) to land in winds like those, especially on a wet runway. Sounds sporty to try though - just heard two aircraft go missed at JFK, a JetBlue A320 successfully landed.

[Matt Molnar]

Winds 40 degrees off gusting close to 60 knots? 20 knot loss shear with moderate turbulence on final? 5000' RVR? Don't see how anyone could be legal (except those carriers that apparently don't have max x-wind limitations) to land in winds like those, especially on a wet runway. Sounds sporty to try though - just heard two aircraft go missed at JFK, a JetBlue A320 successfully landed.
Alitalia just gave them the no go for 4R, requested 13L.

[Matt Molnar]

FAA now reporting JFK arrival delays averaging 6 hr 12 mins. I've never seen it that long.


That's what she said.

[Gerard]

Took my daughter to her friends house in Merrick around 5PM and the winds were howling down there on the south shore. Riding back north on 135 and my SUV was pushed a few times by wind gusts. And get home and see a utility pole snapped in half and a tree down at another location. I have my flashlights and
candles ready just in case.

[Matt Molnar]

ABX pilot to JFK tower after takeoff: "That was sporty, I wouldn't recommend that for anyone with passengers in the back."

[Matt Molnar]

JFK just had a hurricane-strength gust of 74mph.

[LGA777]

LGA's winds are much lighter than JFK, gusts only seem to be hitting the 40's, but still MAJOR irregular ops here. In the last hour Cactus 1490 landed on 4 and after giving the wind and turbulance conditions on final and the braking action they told the tower, "I don't get paid enough to do this". And a Piedmont Dash 8 just landed on 13, actually an HPN diversion, his pirep to the tower was "pretty hairy below 1500".

Cheers

LGA777

[lijk604]

at 6:36pm Peak gusts at FRG 090 @ 52kts. No 172's airborne today...at least not by choice.

[eric8669]

JFK now reporting wind gust up to 67knots. That's almost 80mph

[cancidas]

ABX pilot to JFK tower after takeoff: "That was sporty, I wouldn't recommend that for anyone with passengers in the back."
LOL!! i love that line...

[USAF Pilot 07]

Yea, JFK is telling people estimated winds are 100@29G65! That's nuts! A BA jet just returned to the gate and some international carrier (couldn't make out the callsign) just went around...

[eric8669]

Yea, JFK is telling people estimated winds are 100@29G65! That's nuts! A BA jet just returned to the gate and some international carrier (couldn't make out the callsign) just went around...


Virgin went back to the gate, Aeromexio just did the go around.

[mattyry38]

Many diversions up here to KSWF:

B6: 26, 150, 722, 1060
VX: 404
CO: 19, 69, (860) ---> TNCM/SXM - EWR (go-around at EWR, ended up diverting)

Also several Citation and Gulfstream diversions, plus some randoms (Dassault)

Very exciting for us Stewart folk! :borat:

Listening to KJFK tower around 1955L and heard DL492 go-around, then divert and caught this screenshot. Kinda looks like an arm punching NYC in the face? :shock:

http://inlinethumb50.webshots.com/46769/2740932420098801188S600x600Q85.jpg (http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2740932420098801188gyPVUX)

[BigAppleCoder]

From my office in lower Manhattan I could hear the traffic turning on final over the east river for JFK's 13L for most of the day. Sounds like they're having an interesting time up there as the engines have been spooling up and down as they compensate for the approach. Those guys are really earning their pay today.

[Iberia A340-600]

I've had a really interesting day of flying to say the least. I diverted to BDL coming back from New Orleans on Jet Blue around 2:40pm and was stuck on the plane on the tarmac until 6:50pm when we finally taxied to a gate and got our bags and left for JFK, although I was picked up by a friend and driven home. We circled for a while near Delaware and then made our way up to Long Island when the pilot announced we would divert. The crew handled the situation pretty well despite all the chaos on board. There were a few people who were able to get off the plane and leave from Hartford but a majority of the passengers on board were connecting onwards to Swiss, Alitalia, and Aer Lingus. There were two other Jet Blue aircraft on the ground and a few Delta aircraft including a 767-300 from ATH.

I've always wanted to experience a diversion but now that I have, hopefully I won't experience one again. Although the 80mph winds at JFK sound pretty terrifying.

[Gerard]

at 6:36pm Peak gusts at FRG 090 @ 52kts. No 172's airborne today...at least not by choice.

I did hear a Hawker come in on ILS One Four early afternoon.
This is one wild storm.
Blackouts, floods, roads closed, trees and utility poles down, major suspension of service on LIRR, NJ Transit,
Amtrak, Staten Island Ferry.
2010 or 2012?? :lol: :lol: :lol:

[Gerard]

Wow, just came back from Merrick and its like a disaster region over there. My daughter took me on a tour :) and there were houses and cars crushed by huge trees. They've had no power since 6 last night. We were lucky and only lost our phones.
And right now (11:11AM) a thunderstorm is rumbling through the area. :shock:

[wunaladreamin]

I've been under the weather this entire week, and spent the most of yesterday sleeping, but every time I woke up I heard sirens. This morning, I got motivated enough to go out and get a cup of coffee and had to take the VERY long way around as there were multiple trees down, including one blocking access to Montauk Hwy from S. Wellwood, and nearly every traffic light I passed was being worked on. Looks like a bad time for driving as well. Kudos to the SCPD MOS's out there for doing an excellent job in less than excellent conditions with directing traffic and such.

[hiss srq]

I lost power for about 24 hours. It was nasty. I called ATIS at JFK a few times and was in awe of the weather. About 6 PM high tide I was standing just off the sand on the boardwalk during the worst of the storm and heard somthing very low in the clouds climbing away from JFK. I was suprised to say the least. That storm was intense. At least the hangers in FRG arent down!

[Gerard]

LIPA is saying this is one of the worst storms they have seen in 20 years. From what I am hearing, seeing
on TV and seeing with my own eyes I can believe it.
The "Hurricane With No Name" it is being dubbed!!

[Matt Molnar]

At least the hangers in FRG arent down!
Delta hangar at BOS lost part of its roof.

[hiss srq]

I just saw a picture. Wowowowowo. This storm was no joke. None at all. Surface conditions were intense. Apparently the wind was strong enough to slightly open one of the hanger doors though at the old Summit hanger. That is strength! Those things have flat tires (The hanger doors) so you know it is strong. It only opened one of them like 6 inches but still...... Woof!

[Matt Molnar]

Just heard a plane was flipped at Calabro.

[ISP Pilot]

Trying to get back from LAX to JFK yesterday with numerous cancellations, my only option that worked was flying to BOS first then LGA. Upon landing at BOS, I saw the Air France A380 on the taxiway. Couldn't figure out if it was the same plane that diverted Saturday or if it was the Sunday flight. That was 2 A380s in the same day as I also saw the QF A380 landing at LAX as we were taxiing out for takeoff. Also saw an Emirates 777-300 on the ground at BOS with airstairs hooked up. Again not sure if it was a diversion from Saturday or Sunday. The standby list for the LAX-JFK flight I was trying to get on was 66 people long!