January 07th, 2009 | Categoria: xn--btvw8bh0b.com
AS #310/AA #7000 was delayed out of PDX by an hour last night, then boarded, then we sat there, then were told that "light de-icing" had to be performed thus about an hour and a half delay before pullback from the gate. Then we taxi'd out, start onto the runway, then turned right and headed back in because, as the pilot said, a door to the cargo hold was open.
He sounded genuinely embarrassed, and no arguments from anyone onboard even as I sweated my SFO connection; better to be late than leaving this world with someone else's checked luggage through a gaping hole in the fuselage.
Drinks were on the house and I made my connection with a minute or two to spare.
BUT: how could this happen in the first place - don't they do a visual inspection at the gate? And how did they find out it was open? Would another plane on a taxiway tell 'em, or the tower? Does a light go on in the cockpit? (B737-700) It seemed odd this could be discovered literally seconds before takeoff. I ask as it seemed like we were quite a ways out - it took a while to get back to the gate.
I've been flying Alaska a lot lately and overall I'm pretty impressed, given some bad press they've received over the past few years. The crews and gate staff are among the friendliest and most professional I've encountered, the planes are clean and new, they treat partner elites well, and given the constraints of weather in their core service area, I think - given my small sample - they do a good job of trying to keep to schedule.
I wouldn't drop AS (couldn't drop 'em - who else is there?), but wonder how this could have happened?I guess the cargo door somehow wasn't shut properly or completely. I'm guessing an indicator light came on in the cockpit as they taxiied out, although I'm not a pilot. I can't imagine the ground crew (Menzies) just forgetting to close the cargo door. Your flight only shows 1:17 late into SFO so apparently the door incident didn't add much to the delay. But I have had a couple of flights on AS recently that had to return to the gate after pushback (once because the pilot decided to add more fuel prior to takeoff and once for what was described as a "weight and balance" issue). Not something I've seen on other airlines, but could just be a fluke.Just like the door on an Alaska Airlines flight on Sunday that was left open by Menzies in ZIH: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/305123_flight26.html They had to make an emergency landing in PVR. Imagine if they went after the entire ring of theives at SEA. You know what they say about paybacks fortunately no one was injured.I guess the cargo door somehow wasn't shut properly or completely. I'm guessing an indicator light came on in the cockpit as they taxiied out, although I'm not a pilot. I can't imagine the ground crew (Menzies) just forgetting to close the cargo door. Your flight only shows 1:17 late into SFO so apparently the door incident didn't add much to the delay. But I have had a couple of flights on AS recently that had to return to the gate after pushback (once because the pilot decided to add more fuel prior to takeoff and once for what was described as a "weight and balance" issue). Not something I've seen on other airlines, but could just be a fluke.
Yes, weight and balance issues do happen. I experienced them at least twice in 25+ years of regular flying. Fuel issues do happen as well. I've certainly had a few gate delays where the pilot decided to "top off" the fuel tanks.I wonder if the door was actually closed and the light came on while they were taxiing. A faulty sensor perhaps. These things have been known to happen.I've had W&B issues on United, partly because they do the calculations at their headquarters office and can be pretty slow getting them to the flight crews. More than once my flight has been #1 for takeoff and we had to go to the penalty because we didn't have the numbers yet. One time entailed a trip back to the ramp to move a whole six bags from the rear pit to the forward pit (hmm... come to think of it, that was on the flight I'm taking again this coming Wednesday...).
There is a light in the cockpit for every door on the airplane. The real question here is why it wasn't noticed before they started taxiing. Or, if it came on during taxi, the next question is why wasn't it on before that? The lights are supposed to go out only when the doors are closed and latched.For a relatively small carrier, we seem to hear a lot of these stories. If the ramps are an issue due to third party handling (Menzies, or otherwise) one would think the flight deck would be more sensitive to what's going on around it. Before you jump on me for that comment, count the events reported in the last 12 months. I fly often with a pet in the hold. Open cargo doors don't do a lot for me.#If you have any other info about this subject , Please add it free.# |
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