AndyinPIT From United States, joined Sep 2007, 76 posts, RR: 0 Posted (3 months 15 hours ago) and read 5102 times:
I just noticed that MKE was closed until tomorrow morning due to flooding. I know they got hit with some pretty nasty storms earlier, but didn't know the extent of it. Anyone know exactly what's going on?
CrAAzy From United States, joined Jan 2008, 56 posts, RR: 0 Reply 1, posted (3 months 15 hours ago) and read 5097 times:
4-6 inches on rain within a few hours on already saturated ground with 3 3/4 inch hail (softball size) west of airport. Several tornado warnings but no reported touch downs in Milwaukee area.
Reports waist deep water in the contract weather person building at the airport.
Mariner63 From United States, joined Mar 2008, 4 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (3 months 14 hours ago) and read 5032 times:
I live in the area. We were hit with some severe storms this evening. I over heard airport ops and they said 12 to 18 inches of water in parts or the tarmac. 19R/1L was the only runway open a few hours ago as far as I know. Also a majority of the taxiways are covered with a substantial amount of standing water. I don't think the airport is closed completely but I know most of it is unusable due to the water. Thats all I know right now.
Mariner63 From United States, joined Mar 2008, 4 posts, RR: 0 Reply 4, posted (3 months 14 hours ago) and read 4999 times:
Quoting Mainland (Reply 3): And another pretty significant line of storms about to hit MKE...
It looks like theres a line of storms all the way back past Iowa. Should be interesting to see what the airport does. Also it looks like the front of these storms that hit MKE earlier are right around the DTW area. Who knows how they'll handle it.
MKENut From United States, joined Jul 2007, 262 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (3 months 14 hours ago) and read 4960 times:
I just heard a report on our local Fox Station and they say MKE is shutdown. Don't even try to go to the airport tonight. Some parts of the freeway system in Milwaukee County are closed also. I had a hard time driving home tonight because of it. Looks like another round of training storms are coming.
Apodino From United States, joined Apr 2005, 1629 posts, RR: 4 Reply 6, posted (3 months 13 hours ago) and read 4900 times:
USAIrways flight 4075 ended up diverting to ATW (Which is also ZW's headquarters, and they operated the flight), and the plane basically got parked in ATW for the night as a result. Plenty of gate space since UA doesn't seem to have anything coming here from ORD anytime soon.
MKE just has had bad luck with bad weather. Several instances of CAT II/III conditions this year, which is why YX is finally saying enough is enough with CAT I only. Plus they have had several snowstorms and their snow removal was horrible all winter. Now throw in this rainstorm where the airport is flooded. It has been a pain in the neck.
Brilondon From Canada, joined Aug 2005, 646 posts, RR: 0 Reply 7, posted (3 months 13 hours ago) and read 4841 times:
Quoting Mariner63 (Reply 4): Also it looks like the front of these storms that hit MKE earlier are right around the DTW area. Who knows how they'll handle it.
The area around DTW is very flat and would not take too much to flood out. That being said, they have pretty decent drainage system at the airport in Detroit and should not pose major problems with 6 available runways.
Life is a highway, I just can't find the on ramp. Cheers!
NZblue From United States, joined Jun 2004, 560 posts, RR: 11 Reply 8, posted (3 months 12 hours ago) and read 4746 times:
I was part of the crew for Frontier 372 tonight, and as you can tell from our path tonight, we were most certainly affected by the closure of MKE.
Luckily for us, our passengers were extremely understanding...not to mention the fact that having DirecTV on board showed just how awful the weather there really was.
It's an entirely different kind of flying; all together.
Wn676 From United States, joined Jun 2005, 75 posts, RR: 1 Reply 9, posted (3 months 11 hours ago) and read 4664 times:
I though I was just hearing things when the cancellation of one of our Milwaukee flights got called out over the radio. "...triple 9 due to flooding at the airport." That's definitely a new one.
The lunch consisted of a meat-like substance whose flavor defied description.
Maverick623 From United States, joined Nov 2006, 673 posts, RR: 0 Reply 10, posted (3 months 11 hours ago) and read 4640 times:
Quoting NZblue (Reply 8): I was part of the crew for Frontier 372 tonight
Can you say "waste of gas"?
Quoting Wn676 (Reply 9): I though I was just hearing things when the cancellation of one of our Milwaukee flights got called out over the radio. "...triple 9 due to flooding at the airport." That's definitely a new one.
Yea that was a first for me too. Barney came over and said that there was over 8 inches of water on the tarmac. All Sabre had to say about it was "bare and wet".
Can you say "better to take it back to the hub and re-accommodate the pax than land somewhere random and figure it out from there"?
When FFT372 took off, MKE was in a groundstop that did not include Denver Center departures. From the looks of it, word of the airport closure reached F9 dispatch and Denver Center just after 372 got airborne. They likely kept flying towards MKE until the closure was confirmed and contingency plan was in place...then turned around.
Not a "waste" of gas at all...just the cost of doing business. Based on the information available to them at the time, F9 made the right call, here.
[Edited 2008-06-07 23:23:35]
"My first love was a wicked twisted road, I hit the million mile mark at seventeen years old..."
Steex From United States, joined Jun 2007, 60 posts, RR: 0 Reply 12, posted (3 months 11 hours ago) and read 4599 times:
The weather in Milwaukee definitely caused some interesting operations for FL.
FL 344 usually operates BWI-MKE-LAX, but after being shut out from MKE, instead operated BWI-MLI-LAX. FL 688 usually operates SEA-MKE-BOS, but similarly routed SEA-MLI-BOS tonight. FL 521 is ordinarily a non-stop DCA-MKE, but tonight ran DCA-MLI. That aircraft appears to now be flying MLI-ATL as FL 8737. Does anyone know if this is strictly a ferry? It seems reasonable that they could be relocating passengers who would've had MKE connections down to ATL to continue their journeys Sunday. Anyone in the know have more info?
BMI saw a couple of FL diverts too. FL 327 ran LGA-BMI-SFO and FL 516 ran BOS-BMI-LAS, obviously with BMI replacing MKE in both cases.
Maverick623 From United States, joined Nov 2006, 673 posts, RR: 0 Reply 13, posted (3 months 11 hours ago) and read 4577 times:
Quoting JayDub (Reply 11): Can you say "better to take it back to the hub and re-accommodate the pax than land somewhere random and figure it out from there"?
Steex From United States, joined Jun 2007, 60 posts, RR: 0 Reply 14, posted (3 months 10 hours ago) and read 4562 times:
Quote: I was part of the crew for Frontier 372 tonight, and as you can tell from our path tonight, we were most certainly affected by the closure of MKE.
Luckily for us, our passengers were extremely understanding...not to mention the fact that having DirecTV on board showed just how awful the weather there really was.
For many folks, that's probably preferable to the result of F9 374 and several YX aircraft that instead diverted to a final destination of RFD. At least the folks on Frontier 372 get to go sleep in their own beds. One would presume that YX and F9 sent buses down to RFD for the ride to MKE, anybody know for sure?
OPNLguy From United States, joined Jun 1999, 12393 posts, RR: 73 Reply 16, posted (3 months 10 hours ago) and read 4527 times:
Quoting JayDub (Reply 11): When FFT372 took off, MKE was in a groundstop that did not include Denver Center departures. From the looks of it, word of the airport closure reached F9 dispatch and Denver Center just after 372 got airborne. They likely kept flying towards MKE until the closure was confirmed and contingency plan was in place...then turned around.
Not a "waste" of gas at all...just the cost of doing business. Based on the information available to them at the time, F9 made the right call, here.
Probably had to go close to halfway before turning around (if a full flight) so so they could arrive back at DEN below max landing weight.
What a mess at MKE...
Carelessness and overconfidence are usually far more dangerous than deliberately accepted risks.
AndyinPIT From United States, joined Sep 2007, 76 posts, RR: 0 Reply 17, posted (3 months 1 hour ago) and read 4184 times:
Well I asked the first question...now I'll ask this:
How are things today at MKE? What exactly had to be cleaned up? My grandparents live about 3 miles away from the airport, but haven't been able to get in touch with them to see what it's like on their end.
Smcmac32msn From United States, joined May 2004, 1411 posts, RR: 4 Reply 18, posted (3 months 1 hour ago) and read 3984 times:
Quoting Apodino (Reply 6): Plus they have had several snowstorms and their snow removal was horrible all winter
Several snowstorms??? Do you realize how much snow the southern part of Wisconsin had this past winter?? They had 110.3" of snow at MKE. The season average is 40" of snow. We passed our season average in DECEMBER. There were atleast 4 seperate storms that dropped atleast 10" of snow at a time, plus another 60 days where there was snow fall. I'm pretty sure they did the best they could considering the circumstances.
As for the current situation, the Oak Creek Parkway just south of the airport has overflowed the banks and is 3-4x larger than normal. Roads are still flooded, and very heavy rain is bearing down on MKE again. I just drove through it on my way back to MSN and counted 40+ cars pulled over in a 19 mile stretch, with it coming down as hard as it did yesterday. The ground across the whole state is full of water and can't take any more. I wouldn't be suprised if MKE closes for the day today.
[Edited 2008-06-08 09:22:09]
If the Wright brothers were alive today Wilbur would have to fire Orville to reduce costs.
Acey559 From United States, joined Jan 2007, 466 posts, RR: 2 Reply 20, posted (3 months ago) and read 3703 times:
Quoting Steex (Reply 12): Does anyone know if this is strictly a ferry?
I was told that all of the flights that came into MLI last night went out empty or near empty. The airport was a complete and total mess last night. The first diversion came in after all the restaurants and gift shops closed, so there was no food available. Because it was weather related, FL would not pay for hotels, and rental cars stopped renting because they were worried they would run too low on cars for today's (06/08) pax. I haven't checked flightaware, but last I heard, they may or may not be getting an airplane to ferry the pax somewhere, and that the first available bus would be coming today. Not a fun day to be an AirTran pax or employee.
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