Airline Lie Redux

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I friend of mine emailed me from Washington, D.C. that he is delayed three hours because, according to the airline, there is a "ground stop" in Atlanta. So, I emailed him that there is no ground stop for ATL (see below). The FAA's own status list reveals there was no ground stop for ATL or any other airport. 

After I sent the FAA's data to him, he emailed back to say they changed their story to say it is due to "weather." 

So, let's go on a search for this weather. Is it on the AccuWeather regional radar?
No, no weather at D.C. or Atlanta and nothing directly in between. So, the weather isn't here.

Of course, radar does not depict low clouds and fog. Let's look at the satellite photo:
Sunny skies in D.C. and cumulus clouds over ATL (circles). No weather on the satellite photo.

Our weather quest reveals no weather affecting a flight from DCA to ATL. Could this be an example of The Airline Lie? 

I'll let you decide. 

Comments

  1. UnknownJuly 24, 2012 at 3:46 PM

    I was sitting on a flight in KC bound for Omaha one time and the pilot was reporting fair skies in Omaha while the friend I was talking to on the phone was in his basement because the tornado sirens were going off in Omaha. Do the airlines even use weather reports?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mike SmithJuly 24, 2012 at 6:39 PM

    @Unknown: Short answer, no. The airlines have cut back tremendously on resources dedicated to weather over the last decade and a half.

    See: http://meteorologicalmusings.blogspot.com/2011/04/more-on-problem-with-tornado-warnings.html

    ReplyDelete

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