Unplanned fuel stop!

"Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)" (rduncan5678)
07/06/2018 at 23:34 • Filed to: None

Bangor, Maine is close enough to Newark, NJ right? Fuel pit stop due to “excessive winds” on my forever delayed flight. But hey, at least it took off from England finally. Too bad I don’t get to get off the plane here in Maine, I bet it’s really nice in the summer.

I don’t even know what day it is anymore so here’s some Cornland pics!

DISCUSSION (13)

facw > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
07/06/2018 at 23:51

757? I’ve read people complaining about them frequently not being able to pull of the return trip, since it is close to their maximum range. If it was a widebody, that seems like a screw up, they should have a pretty good idea of what the headwind will look like before they go.

MM54 > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
07/07/2018 at 00:04

I think the primary issue is that you’re flying into EWR. That place is a perpetual shitshow.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
07/07/2018 at 00:06

At least you were over land when they ran out of fuel.

Ash78, voting early and often > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever
07/07/2018 at 00:12

In the great circle, you’re over land (or close) a lot more than you’d think — Labrador, Greenland, Iceland, Ireland are all within a short hop off the route.

I’ve heard in most cases they try to get back to the US for legal/customs and fuel pricing reasons. But takeoffs and landings are expensive, so it seems silly unless there was a serious danger of running low on fuel. I think they just cut their fuel loads too close from departure (to save money...most of the time!)

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > facw
07/07/2018 at 01:52

It was a narrow body, definitely an old as hell plane. They knew this was going to happen before we took off but not before we got on the plane.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > MM54
07/07/2018 at 01:53

Yeah I saw on the flight status for that flight it was delayed 3+ hours every day this week and diverted to Linden airport twice. That seems like a nightmare for sure.

facw > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
07/07/2018 at 03:35

Hmm, yeah, I assume you were on Primera Air flight 41? that was scheduled to get in at 9:20 and got in at 12:51?

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/pf41

Assuming the site is right then this is your plane (seems to fly some flights as National Airlines as well? ) :

Kinja'd!!!

A 757-200 that American bought new in 1991 :

Kinja'd!!!

Range on those is ~3900 nautical miles, and London to NYC is about 3000, but even with a full tank, flying into a strong headwind for 6 hours can cut down on that pretty quickly, especially when you need to keep some fuel in reserve as a safety margin.

facw > Ash78, voting early and often
07/07/2018 at 03:46

The great circle route from London to NYC doesn’t really get at all close to Greenland or Iceland though, it’s all ocean between Ireland and Newfoundland (they are still a little closer for some parts of the route, but never very close) . Flying up to Iceland would add about 10% to the trip, which airlines aren’t going to be interested in, and of course in this case, the 757's range is limited enough that you really couldn’t safely make the route longer even if you wanted to.

Ash78, voting early and often > facw
07/07/2018 at 06:55

True, I probably had Chicago or further west in my head (which approach or go over Greenland).

Icelandair flies the 757 exclusively, or at least they did, but every Atlantic route in both directions stops at KEF.

MM54 > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
07/07/2018 at 10:09

There was a period that I was flying into/out of newark 2-3 trips a month for work. It is an awful place.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > Ash78, voting early and often
07/07/2018 at 10:18

I took a british airways flight from SEATAC to Heathrow on a 747, it felt like we flew over the north pole. Unfortunately it was dark around the greenland/iceland area.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > MM54
07/07/2018 at 13:00

Having grown up with Newark as "the airport" I always laugh at the people who complain about LAX in my new home. Like the only really bad thing about LAX is the traffic. Otherwise it's a pretty okay airport. Not particularly great considering there is no public transport and the sheer number of travelers there. But there are rarely delays, terminal amenities are all decent, the gates are logically laid out, and you can fly anywhere in the world nonstop. Newark (and all of the NY airports really) are just awful. JFK is actually decent but it's so damn far with traffic, I can start considering PHL at that point which is lovely.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > facw
07/07/2018 at 13:03

Yup that would be the one! I saw that other iterations of that flight this week diverted to Linden. Meaning they probably didn't get a gate on time and didn't have enough fuel to loiter. So I guess the solution this time was to just stop along the way. The captain said "due to winter-like winds" and I was like wtf it's July!