Virgin Flight Stuck at US Airport for Hours
Jun 27th 2010, 7:19 pm
#16
BE Co-Founder
Joined: Feb 2000
Location: Florida
Posts: 25,928
Re: Virgin Flight Stuck at US Airport for Hours
We were flying to Newark on Thursday and got held up for the same reason. Spent 3 1/2 hours sat on the tarmac at Charlotte airport in 90f+ heat. It was not pleasant I can tell you.
Jun 27th 2010, 10:22 pm
#17
Dragon with a Wagon
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 213
Re: Virgin Flight Stuck at US Airport for Hours
I was a Virgin Trolly Dolly and I can tell you the crew were no doubt pissed too, I've been on flights delayed by ground ops and weather and trust me there was nothing we could do.
We once landed at an airport we had never used before and the flight deck repeatedly asked for water and food to be brought to the aircraft, but due to it being an airport we did not normally fly in to the airport refused, why? Because Virgin did not have a credit account with them. Also the airport would not allow the Captain to use the credit card that is kept onboard for such emergencies.
Passengers get it rough yeah I'm not denying it, but trust me, crew have been on their feet a lot longer than the passengers by the end of the day and they are dead on their feet.
Just for the record before anyone says anything, Virgin are not a great employer, the crew are treated the worst in the company, a minimum work day for crew is at least 12 hours and if the hours are extended to the max, it's something like 21 hours with only a minimum rest time of 8 hours as mandatory, then yeah you have very tired and slightly cranky crew.
So moral of all this is, have a go at Virgin Atlantic bosses etc, not the crew, the crew are trying their best to deal all situations thrown at them.
We once landed at an airport we had never used before and the flight deck repeatedly asked for water and food to be brought to the aircraft, but due to it being an airport we did not normally fly in to the airport refused, why? Because Virgin did not have a credit account with them. Also the airport would not allow the Captain to use the credit card that is kept onboard for such emergencies.
Passengers get it rough yeah I'm not denying it, but trust me, crew have been on their feet a lot longer than the passengers by the end of the day and they are dead on their feet.
Just for the record before anyone says anything, Virgin are not a great employer, the crew are treated the worst in the company, a minimum work day for crew is at least 12 hours and if the hours are extended to the max, it's something like 21 hours with only a minimum rest time of 8 hours as mandatory, then yeah you have very tired and slightly cranky crew.
So moral of all this is, have a go at Virgin Atlantic bosses etc, not the crew, the crew are trying their best to deal all situations thrown at them.
Jun 27th 2010, 10:24 pm
#18
Dragon with a Wagon
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 213
Re: Virgin Flight Stuck at US Airport for Hours
This is not something the airline has a say in, they are just told this is where you are diverting to now get on with it, it's ATC that make these kinds of decisions.
Jun 27th 2010, 10:26 pm
#19
Dragon with a Wagon
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 213
Re: Virgin Flight Stuck at US Airport for Hours
You don’t need a GPU to start the engines. The starter motors for the engines are air driven, powered by bleed air from the APU or via the bleed air system. The APU can be started from the aircraft batteries. The APU also has a generator.
Each engine driven generator has independent control (therefore it's own CB protection) and supplies its own associated AC BUS. Each engine can individually provide bleed air which is required to run the a/c packs, as can the APU.
I was referring to the absence of the flight deck crew. If they were on board they weren’t doing a very good job of looking after the environmental systems. Then again maybe they were told to shut down all engines by Ground?
Anyway it looks like Virgin is up for a fine. I wouldn’t like to be in the Captains shoes, something went wrong.
http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/p...-delay/97818/1
Each engine driven generator has independent control (therefore it's own CB protection) and supplies its own associated AC BUS. Each engine can individually provide bleed air which is required to run the a/c packs, as can the APU.
I was referring to the absence of the flight deck crew. If they were on board they weren’t doing a very good job of looking after the environmental systems. Then again maybe they were told to shut down all engines by Ground?
Anyway it looks like Virgin is up for a fine. I wouldn’t like to be in the Captains shoes, something went wrong.
http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/p...-delay/97818/1
Jun 27th 2010, 10:32 pm
#20
Dragon with a Wagon
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 213
Re: Virgin Flight Stuck at US Airport for Hours
Only people really to blame for this are the bosses, Flight Deck and crew are only following orders, if they fire these pilots I hope they pilots sue the company and win!
Jun 27th 2010, 11:05 pm
#21
Forum Regular
Joined: Nov 2008
Location: London
Posts: 120
Re: Virgin Flight Stuck at US Airport for Hours
How frustrating though - to be boarded and then have to sit around for hours. Why couldn't they just let you wait in the terminal??
Jun 28th 2010, 9:17 pm
#24
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Aug 2009
Location: Houston, Texas
Posts: 504
Re: Virgin Flight Stuck at US Airport for Hours
I was a Virgin Trolly Dolly and I can tell you the crew were no doubt pissed too, I've been on flights delayed by ground ops and weather and trust me there was nothing we could do.
We once landed at an airport we had never used before and the flight deck repeatedly asked for water and food to be brought to the aircraft, but due to it being an airport we did not normally fly in to the airport refused, why? Because Virgin did not have a credit account with them. Also the airport would not allow the Captain to use the credit card that is kept onboard for such emergencies.
Passengers get it rough yeah I'm not denying it, but trust me, crew have been on their feet a lot longer than the passengers by the end of the day and they are dead on their feet.
Just for the record before anyone says anything, Virgin are not a great employer, the crew are treated the worst in the company, a minimum work day for crew is at least 12 hours and if the hours are extended to the max, it's something like 21 hours with only a minimum rest time of 8 hours as mandatory, then yeah you have very tired and slightly cranky crew.
So moral of all this is, have a go at Virgin Atlantic bosses etc, not the crew, the crew are trying their best to deal all situations thrown at them.
We once landed at an airport we had never used before and the flight deck repeatedly asked for water and food to be brought to the aircraft, but due to it being an airport we did not normally fly in to the airport refused, why? Because Virgin did not have a credit account with them. Also the airport would not allow the Captain to use the credit card that is kept onboard for such emergencies.
Passengers get it rough yeah I'm not denying it, but trust me, crew have been on their feet a lot longer than the passengers by the end of the day and they are dead on their feet.
Just for the record before anyone says anything, Virgin are not a great employer, the crew are treated the worst in the company, a minimum work day for crew is at least 12 hours and if the hours are extended to the max, it's something like 21 hours with only a minimum rest time of 8 hours as mandatory, then yeah you have very tired and slightly cranky crew.
So moral of all this is, have a go at Virgin Atlantic bosses etc, not the crew, the crew are trying their best to deal all situations thrown at them.
Jun 28th 2010, 9:21 pm
#25
Dragon with a Wagon
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 213
Re: Virgin Flight Stuck at US Airport for Hours
Oh well I just hope the Pilots don't get screwed.
Jun 28th 2010, 9:48 pm
#27
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Joined: Feb 2000
Location: Florida
Posts: 25,928
Re: Virgin Flight Stuck at US Airport for Hours
Jun 28th 2010, 9:53 pm
#28
WTF?
Joined: Aug 2003
Location: Homeostasis
Posts: 79,367
Re: Virgin Flight Stuck at US Airport for Hours
Sounds like the time my grandmother was taken on holiday to Holland for her 85th birthday by my aunt. It was my grandmothers first trip abroad. On her return I asked her if she enjoyed her trip, she said yes she had had a lovely rime, but the holiday resort was full of foreigners who couldn't speak English.
Jun 28th 2010, 10:06 pm
#29
lush
Joined: Dec 2007
Location: Maine - the "Deep South" of the Northeast
Posts: 5,004
Re: Virgin Flight Stuck at US Airport for Hours
Almost the same thing happened to my Mum and Brother on a BA flight coming to see me last year.
They were flying to Boston, got diverted due to bad weather to a place in CT that wasnt equipped to deal with immigration, so had to sit on the plane for a few hours until immigration officials got there. When they were finally let off they then had to get on a bus up to Mass. At the time my Mum didn't know she was in in CT, she had no clue what state they were even in.
They were supposed to be driving up to me in Maine, but by the time they got back to MA it was midnight and they ended up getting a hotel room and staying down there.
They were flying to Boston, got diverted due to bad weather to a place in CT that wasnt equipped to deal with immigration, so had to sit on the plane for a few hours until immigration officials got there. When they were finally let off they then had to get on a bus up to Mass. At the time my Mum didn't know she was in in CT, she had no clue what state they were even in.
They were supposed to be driving up to me in Maine, but by the time they got back to MA it was midnight and they ended up getting a hotel room and staying down there.
