Thursday, January 20, 2011

Dire Warnings

The trip got off to a shaky start. In the final hour prior to launch, as we were reviewing the paperwork, my dispatcher called. The Moscow weather had him spooked. He wanted to change the weather diversion alternate from Sheremetyeyvo, which is just north of Moscow, to Hamburg, Germany, two hours southwest. That meant putting on another 25,000 or so pounds of fuel. “You mean all of west Russia is hammered?” I asked.

It was, he said, or at least was trending that way. We would have only enough fuel for one shot at Domodedovo before bolting for Hamburg. It could get interesting. We gathered up the papers―a small National Forest's worth―and headed to the jet.

We got out of the gate on time, but as we took the runway the cabin call chime dinged. Bad. They're not supposed to call us during takeoff, but I had not yet advanced the throttles. Frank looked at me, eyes asking, “Should I answer it?” I nodded.
 

"Sick passenger,” Frank said. “Kid throwing up all over the place.”

“Let's abort,” I said. We got clearance to exit the runway and stopped. I sent Bill, the relief pilot, back. He reported that the kid looked like warmed-over-death, although his mother insisted that he was only “air sick” and said we should go on. Bill said several other passengers told him the kid had been throwing up for an hour in the gate room.

I called the chief flight attendant―known at this airline as the “Purser”―to the cockpit. “What's your recommendation?” I asked.

She wanted no part of that deal. Neither did I. If we flew him, we most certainly would be compelled to divert and put that kid off. A costly problem. We called for the paramedics and went back to the gate.

The EMTs said the choice to bring him back was a good one. They loaded him and his miffed mother into an ambulance. Two other family members, all Russians, debarked. It took our ground crew an hour to located their bags in the cargo hold and get them off.

And, get this: the airline booked them all a paid hotel room and gave them meal vouchers, even though their problems weren't our fault, but in reality cost us a bundle in fuel. Remember that, when you read about how lousy our customer service is.

We blasted out of Dulles an hour and a half late and suffered the long night crossing in the high latitudes. The sun finally came up as we got into Russian airspace. The dispatcher's dire warnings about the weather kept us busy watching the weather at Moscow, St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Stockholm and Hamburg.

As we began the descent we saw Moscow 50 miles out. Fifty miles! We were told to expect to see the runway at a quarter mile! The sunlit city lay sprawled out in front of us and got ever bigger.

Oh, well. One day it will pay―and pay big―to play it safe. No complaints from me about that weather forecast.

The layover? That's another story. See the next post.


Moscow all dressed for winter

6 comments:

  1. Hello Capt. Alan,
    Wow! A two hour potential divert and 25K in extra gas is a bunch. Spendy stuff. That sick kid is the scary one though. Is sounds like the FA that called while you were waiting to 'advance' made a really good call (no pun intended) and that ALL made good calls throughout the process. While the courtesy to the family of (Four?) may have been too generous, but still cost your line a lot less than an emergency diversion enroute! That's a headache that you, your line and the other PAX can do without. In the end, the sick kid and family were probably better off staying at origin (D.C.?) than being let off, God knows where, enroute. All considered, 1.5 hours late is not that bad. Hat off to all!
    -Craig

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  2. A Quick P.S.:
    Nice winter PIC of Moscow on the 19th. That sure does not look like a weather divert to me . Good weather happens to those who are prepared for bad weather.
    -Craig

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  3. Did my original comment get lost or was there something that you did not like?

    In this example, I guess the Decision Height was 0-AGL.
    -Craig

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  4. Good call on the sick kid. Could be appendicitis, food poisoning, etc. You don't want a ruptured appendix at 35,000 ft, or have to put in an IV for dehydration.

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  5. I guess it got found. Computers and the internet are strange companions. And your blog is a truly fun read, OK, when the posts are fresh. Thanks for sharing your insight.
    -Craig

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  6. You have a great way with words. Good call from the crew in the back about the kid. Wouldn't be fun to have to put down at one the northern airports like BGSF with a sick kid in the back.

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