FlyDeltaJets From United States of America, joined Feb 2006, 1623 posts, RR: 3 Posted (6 years 11 months 1 week 6 days 10 hours ago) and read 1647 times:
What is your stations local policy of closing the ramp? Ours a JFK is definitely inadequate because two guys got struck by lightning on Thursday before they decided to shut it down.
Charlienorth From United States of America, joined Jun 2006, 1077 posts, RR: 5 Reply 1, posted (6 years 11 months 1 week 6 days 10 hours ago) and read 1634 times:
At ORD the policy is ground strikes within airport boundaries and that is stretched,it is up to the duty managers at the airlines,they don't want to shut things down,they are supposed to turn on lights on top of the terminals,C concourse and H/K concourse,a lot of times people will say "screw it,this job isn't worth getting killed over"and head inside before the lights come on,every union I have been in has advised us when you see ground strikes within the field don't wait for the lights,use your best judgement and go inside.
Aogdesk From United States of America, joined Jun 2004, 933 posts, RR: 4 Reply 2, posted (6 years 11 months 1 week 6 days 9 hours ago) and read 1627 times:
Ours calls for closure if lightining is within 5 miles of the airport. Actually getting mgmt to follow thru on that is nearly impossible, but I tell all the rampers myself to get inside. I refuse to see someone get hurt or killed before they get serious about the issue.
Amtrosie From United States of America, joined Jan 2005, 274 posts, RR: 1 Reply 3, posted (6 years 11 months 1 week 6 days 7 hours ago) and read 1602 times:
Good question!
I personally have had a few close calls, and have instructed anyone servicing my plane to get out if it is between 3 and 5 miles away. That being said, it ultimately comes down to the individuals on the ramp.
FlyDeltaJets From United States of America, joined Feb 2006, 1623 posts, RR: 3 Reply 4, posted (6 years 11 months 1 week 6 days 6 hours ago) and read 1591 times:
Charlienorth From United States of America, joined Jun 2006, 1077 posts, RR: 5 Reply 5, posted (6 years 11 months 1 week 6 days ago) and read 1542 times:
AOGdesk..that's what happens at ORD,when I was in the SOC at an airline the duty manager was reluctant to pull the plug before the other big airline did,folks would be calling in on their radios telling about lightning strikes even starting brush fires,like I said before use your best judgement and CYA.
Bri2k1 From United States of America, joined Dec 2004, 988 posts, RR: 4 Reply 6, posted (6 years 11 months 1 week 5 days 21 hours ago) and read 1516 times:
At DEN, at least, on the (rather expansive) UA ramp area, no chances are taken. I can only speak as a passenger, but it seems (from many experiences) that any strikes in the near vicinity are cause to shut down the entire ramp. I've been inconvenienced by it many times, but as all professional aviators realize, safety is the #1 most important thing in aviation, and I've always 'suffered' in silence. Much better I'm a few minutes later to my destination than anyone suffers injury or, God forbid, death.
R311music From United States of America, joined Jul 2005, 105 posts, RR: 0 Reply 7, posted (6 years 11 months 1 week 4 days 15 hours ago) and read 1426 times:
At WN, if lightning strike is within three miles of the airport, they close the ramp.
LVTMB From United States of America, joined Oct 2004, 380 posts, RR: 0 Reply 10, posted (6 years 11 months 1 week 3 days 14 hours ago) and read 1348 times:
I believe MIA closes its ramp when there is lightning. Last week that cause my flight to leave 3 hours late.
RNOcommctr From United States of America, joined Jan 2001, 825 posts, RR: 4 Reply 11, posted (6 years 11 months 1 week ago) and read 1279 times:
At RNO, we never completely close the ramp, but we do suspend all fueling operations if we have lightning within 5 miles of the airport. I work in Communications and we call all the FBO's and fuelers, plus we do a ringdown on a phone that goes into all the airline operations areas. We also do text messages to groups of airport management in case they get calls about why flights were delayed.
Operations has a gadget to determine lightning distance, but normally the determination is made by known landmarks around the airport. The tower also assists Operations in reporting nearby lightning strikes and making estimates of distance.
Cancidas From Poland, joined Jul 2003, 4112 posts, RR: 13 Reply 12, posted (6 years 11 months 1 day 7 hours ago) and read 1170 times:
we have a lightning detector in the tower, thing that at 5 miles it turns yellow and at 3 miles its red. when its red, then its up to the judegement of the tower lead and manager on duty. if its storming outside and lightning strikes are obvious then theyll close it down. if it's a blue sky day and the box goes red, they dont.
"...cannot the kingdom of salvation take me home."
GQfluffy From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 13, posted (6 years 11 months 1 day 6 hours ago) and read 1159 times:
BIL, AFAIK, doesn't have a policy. When we think it's close enough...we get our arses back inside. We got chewed out by Dispatch the other night because we wouldn't load a flight untill the storm had passed and it made the flight 15 minutes late....
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