While Sunday, July 5, and Monday, July 6, 2009, brought much more plane-noise overhead, I was too tied up with other matters to be able to log those numerous overhead flights. This "sample" from a non-holiday Sunday is typical.
"J" denotes jet, "sm" denotes a medium or small plane, not a large jet. "NE" means the plane was seen heading Northeast, "S" means South, and likewise for other headings. "dns" means I did not see the plane, which sounded as though it was hidden behind trees, but am very certain I did hear a plane and not the echo of some loud ground-vehicle. If a question-mark appears after the heading, it means I'm pretty sure that's where I heard a plane heading, but did not see it.
Weather: There was a bit of haze overhead but as the hour wore on sky cleared.
19:07 (meaning 7:07 pm) J, S.
10:08 sm, loud, S?
19:10 J, S.
19:12 J, S?
19:15 J, NE/E.
19:16 J, S.
19:18 J, NE.
19:19 J, S.
19:20 sm, E.
19:21 smallish jet, W/NW, very low.
19:22 J, S? could have been same plane as in previous entry. Too much noise filling the sky to tell for sure.
19:23 sm, dns
19:25 J, S.
19:25 sm, N.
19:26 sm, W.
19:26 sm, S.
19:30 sm, E.
19:32 sm, W? loud but hidden behind trees.
19:32 J, NE.
19:34 N? NW? loud.
19:35 J, NE.
19:38 J, S.
19:42 J, NE
19:44 sm, dns
19:45 sm, NW, low.
19:49 J, descending whine, NW
19:49 J, NE.
19:51 J, descending whine, dns.
19:52 sm, W? NW?
19:53 J, NE.
LATER NOTE: This data has been copied to
http://www.NoiseOverConnecticut.blogspot.com/.html/
and to
http://www.AirplaneNoiseOverConnecticut.blogspot.com/.html/
Current plan is -- have one of these URL's (I'll pick one of the two soon)
devoted mostly to aitcraft-noise logs from area residents, have this URL devoted mostly to stories and issues.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Flight Delays: The Big Red Herring?
NOTE ON FLIGHT DELAYS:
In our "modern" age we are accustomed to ground-traffic delays. We allow for the possibility of delays when we set out for a meeting or an appointment. We know it's ridiculous to fix a precise to-the-minute time-estimate to a car trip: If we want to be sure to arrive on time, we have to leave early. Metro North's trains have schedules they usually conform to, but those trains, too, often run 5-10 minutes late.
We think nothing of ground-traffic delays. The time may have come to accept air-traffic delays, especially in light of the increased and increasing traffic-volume.
THE FAA AND FLIGHT-DELAYS
The main excuse the FAA has used to justify its so-called Airspace Redesign has been -- flight delays. Around the time the FAA began phasing in its "redesign," radio broadcasts were full of "horror stories" about flight delays: A woman named (IIRC) Sandy (or Cindy) Hanna was heard on the radio telling of being locked inside an airplane because of a 12-hour delay. She claimed that passengers were not allowed to leave the plane in order to, i.e, relax and wait inside the terminal and (after the plane's rest-rooms had been used, er, to capacity) relieve themselves, BUT, the one or more dogs on the flight were taken on walks intended for the same bodily errands. Come to think of it, I had a very similar experience back in 1987: The plane that was supposed to take me from Chicago to my Michigan hometown was stuck at O'Hare Airport for 4 hours because of vicious weather. In those days, most people didn't have cell-phones. So I couldn't let my boyfriend (now husband) know I'd be very late. He was on his way to my apartment, but I wasn't worried -- he had a key. One thing we both disregarded was -- my place had a burglar-alarm! Fortunately the police officer who showed up at the apartment accepted my boyfriend’s explanation. While all that was going on, I was sitting inside the plane many miles away, reading, and therefore, not minding the delay at all.
The point it -- delays are caused by weather, and I don't see any design or redesign changing that.
Radio stations report on ground-traffic delays nearly every day. Some stations also report airport-traffic delays, also as a matter of course. When I'm near a radio, I make note of these delays. below, you'll see a sample of when I recorded. Just about every time there are air-traffic delays, they ar cause by weather.
Radio stations are identified below by their call-letters and frequency, which is A.M unless otherwise noted, so that "a.m" and "p.m" refer to time of day. "Weather" refers to weather observed in connecticut, about 20 miles from LaGuardia Airport, so it's just "an approximation" of weather conditions at the airport at the time.
DELAYS-SAMPLE:
Keeping score:
Jul. 12: WEATHER: 7. COMPUTERS: 1. TRAFFIC-VOLUME: 0.
On Aug. 3 this score was updated to:
WEATHER: 11. COMPUTERS: 1. Unruly Passenger/s: 1. TRAFFIC-VOLUME: 0
DATA:
Tue. May 5, 2009, WOR710, 11 a.m: "... and of course airport delays due to low visibility [alluding to fog?] weather was: For past 2 days, almost continuous overcast, on and off drizzle.
Thursday May 14 WOR710 7 p.m: 3-hour delays at airports, "call ahead." Weather: Some brief "rain showers," not much rain overall. Sky overcast all day, some wind, not severe but definitely noticeable -- trees, not just tree-tops -- were swaying.
Wednesday May 27 WOR710, 7 a.m: 1-hour delays at LaGaurdia "due to low visibility/fog. Weather: There was some drizzle yesterday but not today. Today -- overcast but no rain.
WOR710, 2 p.m and later: 90 minutes (Newark?) to 3-hour (LaGuardia?) delays "due to fog." Later in the day, 3-hour delays were reported, it was made clear the delays were caused by fog (no pun intended!)
Thursday May 28, 8 a.m, 8:30 a.m, 9: a.m, 10:00 a.m: 2-hour arrival and departure delays at LaGuardia (and other airports?) "due to fog" and "because of fog." (Aside: There were also 2-hour delays on the George Washington Bridge).
Thursday June 4, 5:30 a.m: "Expect airport delays today due to the weather. Weather: Rain. It had rained the previous night, thought not much. "Showers" were forecast.
8:00 a.m: WOR710: "90 minute arrival delays at LaGuardia."
June 9, 11 a.m: 3-4 hour departure-delays at JFK. Some planes scheduled to depart at certain times had not yet reached JFK. WCBS880: "Usually LaGuardia is the worst [as far as delays] now it's the best," with 90-minute delays.
Weather: Strong lightening and thunder storms the previous night/early thins morning. (My house shook from the thunder!) By 11 a.m WCBS880 reported a "mix of sun and clouds" in New York City, forecast: "could be another shower coming in from Pennsylvania."
2 p.m, WSTC1400: 2 1/2 hour departure-delays at JFK and Newark, 90 minute delays at LaGuardia. "Bradley [airport] on or close to schedule." Weather: by now rain had pretty much stopped, 64 degrees F. "Showers" and "thunderstorms" forecast for the evening.
June 18 5:30 p.m WOR710: "Up to 3 hour delays at the airports." Weather: Rain since early morning, stopped briefly around 6 p.m, then resumed. At times gentle, other times heavy. Dark clouds all day.
7:00 p.m: 2-hour delays at JFK. 3-hour departure delays, 90 minute arrival delays Newark.
July 2, WABC770 1 p.m: United Airlines' computer is "back on line" after having malfunctioned in Chicago and caused "nationwide problems." [including, most likely, flight delays].
Update August 3:
July 20, Monday, WOR710, 11 am: “At the airports you have delays because of the weather.
Weather in CT: Persistent rain, but not downpour, since very early in the morning, but no wind. By noon the rain had stopped, while WABC reported “light drizzle” in N.Y City.
Monday Jul. 27, WIN1010, 9:30 pm: “airport delays because of the weather.” Weather: Storms (and lightening?) near LaGuardia reported on various radio stations. “Showers” forecast for later that night.
Wed. Jul. 29, WOR710 5:30 pm: “airport delays of about 4 hours.”
Weather: Rain since noon, not heavy but some radio stations were reporting flooding or chance of flooding elsewhere in the Tri-States region. I also heard earlier mention of “tornado-watch” in 1-2 NY or NJ counties.
Jul. 31, 5 pm, WOR710 and earlier on another station: 3 hour delays at airports.
Weather: Rain, flood-warning in some places, tornados were mentioned.
Aug. 1, 2009, WSTC1400 9:00 am” LaGuardia Airport has “many hours delay,” and one of its terminals evacuated, because a passenger claimed to have a bomb. In the following day/s, details were all over the newspapers so I won’t elaborate.
.
In our "modern" age we are accustomed to ground-traffic delays. We allow for the possibility of delays when we set out for a meeting or an appointment. We know it's ridiculous to fix a precise to-the-minute time-estimate to a car trip: If we want to be sure to arrive on time, we have to leave early. Metro North's trains have schedules they usually conform to, but those trains, too, often run 5-10 minutes late.
We think nothing of ground-traffic delays. The time may have come to accept air-traffic delays, especially in light of the increased and increasing traffic-volume.
THE FAA AND FLIGHT-DELAYS
The main excuse the FAA has used to justify its so-called Airspace Redesign has been -- flight delays. Around the time the FAA began phasing in its "redesign," radio broadcasts were full of "horror stories" about flight delays: A woman named (IIRC) Sandy (or Cindy) Hanna was heard on the radio telling of being locked inside an airplane because of a 12-hour delay. She claimed that passengers were not allowed to leave the plane in order to, i.e, relax and wait inside the terminal and (after the plane's rest-rooms had been used, er, to capacity) relieve themselves, BUT, the one or more dogs on the flight were taken on walks intended for the same bodily errands. Come to think of it, I had a very similar experience back in 1987: The plane that was supposed to take me from Chicago to my Michigan hometown was stuck at O'Hare Airport for 4 hours because of vicious weather. In those days, most people didn't have cell-phones. So I couldn't let my boyfriend (now husband) know I'd be very late. He was on his way to my apartment, but I wasn't worried -- he had a key. One thing we both disregarded was -- my place had a burglar-alarm! Fortunately the police officer who showed up at the apartment accepted my boyfriend’s explanation. While all that was going on, I was sitting inside the plane many miles away, reading, and therefore, not minding the delay at all.
The point it -- delays are caused by weather, and I don't see any design or redesign changing that.
Radio stations report on ground-traffic delays nearly every day. Some stations also report airport-traffic delays, also as a matter of course. When I'm near a radio, I make note of these delays. below, you'll see a sample of when I recorded. Just about every time there are air-traffic delays, they ar cause by weather.
Radio stations are identified below by their call-letters and frequency, which is A.M unless otherwise noted, so that "a.m" and "p.m" refer to time of day. "Weather" refers to weather observed in connecticut, about 20 miles from LaGuardia Airport, so it's just "an approximation" of weather conditions at the airport at the time.
DELAYS-SAMPLE:
Keeping score:
Jul. 12: WEATHER: 7. COMPUTERS: 1. TRAFFIC-VOLUME: 0.
On Aug. 3 this score was updated to:
WEATHER: 11. COMPUTERS: 1. Unruly Passenger/s: 1. TRAFFIC-VOLUME: 0
DATA:
Tue. May 5, 2009, WOR710, 11 a.m: "... and of course airport delays due to low visibility [alluding to fog?] weather was: For past 2 days, almost continuous overcast, on and off drizzle.
Thursday May 14 WOR710 7 p.m: 3-hour delays at airports, "call ahead." Weather: Some brief "rain showers," not much rain overall. Sky overcast all day, some wind, not severe but definitely noticeable -- trees, not just tree-tops -- were swaying.
Wednesday May 27 WOR710, 7 a.m: 1-hour delays at LaGaurdia "due to low visibility/fog. Weather: There was some drizzle yesterday but not today. Today -- overcast but no rain.
WOR710, 2 p.m and later: 90 minutes (Newark?) to 3-hour (LaGuardia?) delays "due to fog." Later in the day, 3-hour delays were reported, it was made clear the delays were caused by fog (no pun intended!)
Thursday May 28, 8 a.m, 8:30 a.m, 9: a.m, 10:00 a.m: 2-hour arrival and departure delays at LaGuardia (and other airports?) "due to fog" and "because of fog." (Aside: There were also 2-hour delays on the George Washington Bridge).
Thursday June 4, 5:30 a.m: "Expect airport delays today due to the weather. Weather: Rain. It had rained the previous night, thought not much. "Showers" were forecast.
8:00 a.m: WOR710: "90 minute arrival delays at LaGuardia."
June 9, 11 a.m: 3-4 hour departure-delays at JFK. Some planes scheduled to depart at certain times had not yet reached JFK. WCBS880: "Usually LaGuardia is the worst [as far as delays] now it's the best," with 90-minute delays.
Weather: Strong lightening and thunder storms the previous night/early thins morning. (My house shook from the thunder!) By 11 a.m WCBS880 reported a "mix of sun and clouds" in New York City, forecast: "could be another shower coming in from Pennsylvania."
2 p.m, WSTC1400: 2 1/2 hour departure-delays at JFK and Newark, 90 minute delays at LaGuardia. "Bradley [airport] on or close to schedule." Weather: by now rain had pretty much stopped, 64 degrees F. "Showers" and "thunderstorms" forecast for the evening.
June 18 5:30 p.m WOR710: "Up to 3 hour delays at the airports." Weather: Rain since early morning, stopped briefly around 6 p.m, then resumed. At times gentle, other times heavy. Dark clouds all day.
7:00 p.m: 2-hour delays at JFK. 3-hour departure delays, 90 minute arrival delays Newark.
July 2, WABC770 1 p.m: United Airlines' computer is "back on line" after having malfunctioned in Chicago and caused "nationwide problems." [including, most likely, flight delays].
Update August 3:
July 20, Monday, WOR710, 11 am: “At the airports you have delays because of the weather.
Weather in CT: Persistent rain, but not downpour, since very early in the morning, but no wind. By noon the rain had stopped, while WABC reported “light drizzle” in N.Y City.
Monday Jul. 27, WIN1010, 9:30 pm: “airport delays because of the weather.” Weather: Storms (and lightening?) near LaGuardia reported on various radio stations. “Showers” forecast for later that night.
Wed. Jul. 29, WOR710 5:30 pm: “airport delays of about 4 hours.”
Weather: Rain since noon, not heavy but some radio stations were reporting flooding or chance of flooding elsewhere in the Tri-States region. I also heard earlier mention of “tornado-watch” in 1-2 NY or NJ counties.
Jul. 31, 5 pm, WOR710 and earlier on another station: 3 hour delays at airports.
Weather: Rain, flood-warning in some places, tornados were mentioned.
Aug. 1, 2009, WSTC1400 9:00 am” LaGuardia Airport has “many hours delay,” and one of its terminals evacuated, because a passenger claimed to have a bomb. In the following day/s, details were all over the newspapers so I won’t elaborate.
.
Flight Delays: old data, point still holds
Weather Delays -- Recent radio gleanings
Recall that in the last year or so, we heard or read that the airspace re-design was created mainly to reduce "delays."
For example:
1.) A Dec. 8, 2007 e-mail from Robert Belzer of NJCAAN carried a copy of a Philadelphia Daily News article by William Bender. Its second paragraph said:"The FAA says it's just sticking to its original timeline for redesigning the airspace over New York/New Jersey/Philadelphia metropolitan area to reduce flight delays."
2.) A letter from Congressman Shays to me dated June 5, 2008 states: "I also know the FAA has consistently stated the only way it can reduce congestion and travel delays is by redesigning the (NY/NJ/PHIL) airspace."
3.) USA Today posted an article that is very much in favor of the redesign and against the then-emerging lawsuits. It was posted on August 4, 2008. With the title "Our view on crowded skies: Air travel delays mount as local interests prevail," it begins with
"Air travelers, who suffered through historic delays last year, are off to another sizzling summer of gridlock, thanks mostly to the spinoff effects of congestion in New York, which causes 75% of the nation's delays. This is nothing new. It just goes on and on...because, as with many other problems, local opposition can easily block the national interest..."
So naturally, I began to take an interest in just what was causing the delays so many entities were complaining about! Some New York radio stations announce airport delays in their "Traffic and Weather" segments. Of course, I can't hear all of the airport-traffic radio items, but I do make notes of those I do hear, albeit sometimes in a hurry. A few times I posted my results on my (now defunct) AOL blog, and am now sharing the ones I heard recently.
In what follows, radio stations will be identified by their call-letters followed by their AM frequency, so as to avoid confusing frequency with the am/pm differentiation. All of the following were heard on AM stations, so my writing "am" refers to time of day.
I still want to improve my recording of the weather, but I'm pretty sure that if the delays were not attributed to the weather, I would have noted that.
Jan. 9, 2009: WOR710, 6 pm news: "... a couple of hours delay at the airports so call ahead."
I don't recall delays being explicitly attributed to the weather, but there had been some snow that day, and there were forecasts of wings "gusting up to" 40 mph.
Jan 15: WCBS880, at 9:38 pm: 2 hours delay at liberty Airport "due to weather." Weather was: About 2" of snow in the morning, snowing in Connecticut stopped at around noon.
Jan. 28, WNLK1400, 11:25 am: Some airport delays due to weather. Weather was: 3" of snow, which stopped around 9 am and turned to rain.
WABC770 also reported delays at around 1:30 pm same day.
March 2: (probably very early in the morning): Reports that "600 flights" were "canceled at major airports" because of a big snow-storm.
"1010WIN" ("ten ten WIN") station reported more than 900 flights being canceled.
Around 11:20 am there was a lull in the snow storm, 1010 announced "30 minute delays" at LaGuardia. By 12:10 pm, there were reports of 2 hour delays at JFK and 3 hour delays at LaGuardia.
About 3 days earlier, I heard mention of "2 hour delays at airports." The weather was OK, so that may have been an honest-to-goodness congestion delay.
March 11: WOR710, 8:50 am: LaGuardia 40 minute delays, "due to low visibility." (IIRC there was some rain and fog)
WNLK1400, Around 12 am (midnight) March 12: Report that passengers on a Delta flight were "kept for 10 hours" without food.
Friday April 3, Various reports of 2-hour "arrival delays" at LaGuardia, later reports of 4-hour delays. IIRC because of fog. There was some rain and thunder that day.
April 21 WOR710 around 7:30 am: Airport delays due to "low visibility." Weather was: Strong rain storm the previous night, fog in the morning.
So here are 8 instances of delays I recorded in the last few months, I'm sure there were many more but I simply wasn't near a radio -- only one of which may have been caused by "regular" congestion and not caused by weather conditions.
This sample is typical of many I've written down during the last year or two: Delays are almost invariably caused by weather. I remember one delay last year being caused by "software glitch."
Recall that in the last year or so, we heard or read that the airspace re-design was created mainly to reduce "delays."
For example:
1.) A Dec. 8, 2007 e-mail from Robert Belzer of NJCAAN carried a copy of a Philadelphia Daily News article by William Bender. Its second paragraph said:"The FAA says it's just sticking to its original timeline for redesigning the airspace over New York/New Jersey/Philadelphia metropolitan area to reduce flight delays."
2.) A letter from Congressman Shays to me dated June 5, 2008 states: "I also know the FAA has consistently stated the only way it can reduce congestion and travel delays is by redesigning the (NY/NJ/PHIL) airspace."
3.) USA Today posted an article that is very much in favor of the redesign and against the then-emerging lawsuits. It was posted on August 4, 2008. With the title "Our view on crowded skies: Air travel delays mount as local interests prevail," it begins with
"Air travelers, who suffered through historic delays last year, are off to another sizzling summer of gridlock, thanks mostly to the spinoff effects of congestion in New York, which causes 75% of the nation's delays. This is nothing new. It just goes on and on...because, as with many other problems, local opposition can easily block the national interest..."
So naturally, I began to take an interest in just what was causing the delays so many entities were complaining about! Some New York radio stations announce airport delays in their "Traffic and Weather" segments. Of course, I can't hear all of the airport-traffic radio items, but I do make notes of those I do hear, albeit sometimes in a hurry. A few times I posted my results on my (now defunct) AOL blog, and am now sharing the ones I heard recently.
In what follows, radio stations will be identified by their call-letters followed by their AM frequency, so as to avoid confusing frequency with the am/pm differentiation. All of the following were heard on AM stations, so my writing "am" refers to time of day.
I still want to improve my recording of the weather, but I'm pretty sure that if the delays were not attributed to the weather, I would have noted that.
Jan. 9, 2009: WOR710, 6 pm news: "... a couple of hours delay at the airports so call ahead."
I don't recall delays being explicitly attributed to the weather, but there had been some snow that day, and there were forecasts of wings "gusting up to" 40 mph.
Jan 15: WCBS880, at 9:38 pm: 2 hours delay at liberty Airport "due to weather." Weather was: About 2" of snow in the morning, snowing in Connecticut stopped at around noon.
Jan. 28, WNLK1400, 11:25 am: Some airport delays due to weather. Weather was: 3" of snow, which stopped around 9 am and turned to rain.
WABC770 also reported delays at around 1:30 pm same day.
March 2: (probably very early in the morning): Reports that "600 flights" were "canceled at major airports" because of a big snow-storm.
"1010WIN" ("ten ten WIN") station reported more than 900 flights being canceled.
Around 11:20 am there was a lull in the snow storm, 1010 announced "30 minute delays" at LaGuardia. By 12:10 pm, there were reports of 2 hour delays at JFK and 3 hour delays at LaGuardia.
About 3 days earlier, I heard mention of "2 hour delays at airports." The weather was OK, so that may have been an honest-to-goodness congestion delay.
March 11: WOR710, 8:50 am: LaGuardia 40 minute delays, "due to low visibility." (IIRC there was some rain and fog)
WNLK1400, Around 12 am (midnight) March 12: Report that passengers on a Delta flight were "kept for 10 hours" without food.
Friday April 3, Various reports of 2-hour "arrival delays" at LaGuardia, later reports of 4-hour delays. IIRC because of fog. There was some rain and thunder that day.
April 21 WOR710 around 7:30 am: Airport delays due to "low visibility." Weather was: Strong rain storm the previous night, fog in the morning.
So here are 8 instances of delays I recorded in the last few months, I'm sure there were many more but I simply wasn't near a radio -- only one of which may have been caused by "regular" congestion and not caused by weather conditions.
This sample is typical of many I've written down during the last year or two: Delays are almost invariably caused by weather. I remember one delay last year being caused by "software glitch."
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
"Unclickable" URL's
Occasionally I am not able to post a URL here and also make is "clickable." But one thing you can do is -- highlight the URL as it appears on the screen. Press Control-C to "copy, then place the cursor on your screen's or ISP's "address bar," erase what's there, if anything, click to place your cursor there, and press control-V (paste). Once the URL is there in the address-bar, it ought to open when you click "go" or hit "enter.
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