ATL Under Tornado Warning

stlgph · Sat Jan 06, 2007 1:25 am

Just came across the wires ... people being moved into airport's atrium.

stlgph · Sat Jan 06, 2007 1:26 am

CNN's going live with it.

10:28am CST.

gr8slvrflt · Sat Jan 06, 2007 1:28 am

I live five minutes from the terminal....I'm in my basement at the moment!

stlgph · Sat Jan 06, 2007 1:29 am

CNN affiliate --
http://www.wsbtv.com/index.html

Live cam on the CNN website --
http://www.cnn.com
(under top stories banner)

RL757PVD · Sat Jan 06, 2007 1:30 am

My office is by PDK... its still ok here, but the fun weather is comming....

iad51fl · Sat Jan 06, 2007 1:40 am

I am sitting here at C11... the announcements were made... people were told to stay away from the windows.... and people went to the windows to look outside......

Um.... ok

Chris

mlsrar · Sat Jan 06, 2007 1:46 am

Great, I'm supposed to fly down tonight on FL 443...lets hope there isn't too significant of a domino effect.

DAL767400ER · Sat Jan 06, 2007 1:59 am

The FAA site already shows gate hold delays between 31 and 45 minutes in lenght and increasing, so currently things certainly don't look too well. Guess the airports around ATL can look forward to a few diversions.

AirEMS · Sat Jan 06, 2007 1:59 am

Stay safe all of you who are in Atlanta....

Oh by the way it's snowing AGAIN! in Denver

-Carl

DAL767400ER · Sat Jan 06, 2007 2:02 am

Oh, and for those who have Google Earth and use the FBOWeb feature to watch incoming flights ( http://www.fboweb.com/antest/ge/intro.aspx?old=1 ), it looks like there is already some major plane circling activity going down all around the Atlanta area.

[Edited 2007-01-05 18:02:32]

And as just an example, aftet looking up flt 1421 from IAD on delta.com, it looks like that flight has already made 6 full 360s and seems on its way for a 7th round.

[Edited 2007-01-05 18:04:42]

RL757PVD · Sat Jan 06, 2007 2:03 am

Thw worst looks to have passed... im sure some delays will persist though http://www.weather.com/outlook/trave.../1a/dopplerradar100mile_large.html

srbmod · Sat Jan 06, 2007 7:11 am

I was in an account (on the northside of town) about the time this hit ATL, and Fox News was showing some camera near airport and that was quite a dark sky. I called the house to make sure things were o.k. and that was right around the time it hit where I live (My house is a few miles SSE of ATL as the crow flies).

I got into the line of storms as it blew through the Sandy Springs areas around 11:30 am. I was coming out of an account when it was about to hit and was in my van inputing the order for the account when the bottom fell out.

The worst of the weather was south and east of ATL. The rain was so bad on I-75 at one point visibility was down to nothing.

deltal1011man · Sat Jan 06, 2007 7:23 am

Everything is ok in ATL i live infayetteville which about 15-20 away from the airport. At my HS we where in the "safe" zones for about a half an hour and all it did was rain with a little thunder. From what the new is saying (WSBTV) there is or was around a hour delay.

but here is the WSBTV link the frist three are about the storms

www.wsbtv.com

tys777 · Sat Jan 06, 2007 7:24 am

Quoting DAL767400ER (Reply 7):
Guess the airports around ATL can look forward to a few diversions.

Yes we did.
TYS saw a DL 757-200 from BWI and then a few other RJ's
CHA saw three FL birds including a 737 from MDW and a pair of 717 from HOU and RIC along with a few RJ's

meanwhile BNA saw a lone AC CRJ from YYZ

I would have gone to spot but the weather has been wet around here all day.

Cheers

[Edited 2007-01-05 23:27:35]

litz · Sat Jan 06, 2007 12:45 pm

A friend of mine told me he saw a trash can flying past his office window during the height of the storms.

His office, in Decatur, is on the third floor.

So yeah ... they were pretty justified in shutting things down and trying to marshal pax to the centers of the concourses ...

- litz

LN-MOW · Sat Jan 06, 2007 12:55 pm

I work near Cumberland Mall and didn't notice anything ... laughing

airplanetire · Sun Jan 07, 2007 1:39 am

I'm currently stuck in Quito, Ecuador because my flight to GYE and ATL on Delta was cancelled last night. The flight to UIO leaves ATL at 4:30pm. Is the tornado warning the reason the flight was cancelled? Also, why would Delta cancel a flight to a city to where it flies only once per day? Delta has put everyone on the flight in the Hilton in Quito for two nights because we're not leaving until Sunday morning when a special non-scheduled flight is taking everyone from UIO to GYE and to ATL.

Flyer732 · Sun Jan 07, 2007 3:04 am

Quoting Airplanetire (Reply 16):
Also, why would Delta cancel a flight to a city to where it flies only once per day?

Because they had to. It happens all the time with all airlines.

litz · Sun Jan 07, 2007 3:25 am

Quoting Airplanetire (Reply 16):
Also, why would Delta cancel a flight to a city to where it flies only once per day?

Sometimes something like this happens ... the plane may have had a mechanical fault, it may have gotten stuck in another city due to weather, it may have been sufficiently delayed into Atlanta, or out from somewhere else, etc.

It's unfortunate, and I'm sure annoying, but it does happen.

Quoting Airplanetire (Reply 16):
Delta has put everyone on the flight in the Hilton in Quito for two nights because we're not leaving until Sunday morning when a special non-scheduled flight is taking everyone from UIO to GYE and to ATL.

And they ARE taking care of you ... hotel room + special flight ... many airlines would start assigning standby seats and you play airline roulette.

Smile

- litz

LAXdude1023 · Sun Jan 07, 2007 3:46 am

Was there a Tornado on the ground? Or was it just a funnel cloud suspended in the air? Or was it just a wall cloud.

Given that Tornadoes appear always on the Southwest side of the supercell (with Hail to the northeast of that and heavy rain to the northeast of that), I would suspect that Atlanta got quite a drenching given the airports position relative to the city. wink

bhmbaglock · Sun Jan 07, 2007 3:55 am

Quoting STLGph (Thread starter):
Just came across the wires ... people being moved into airport's atrium.

Screw that, I'd be underground by the train if a tornado went through ATL while I was there!

Quoting Airplanetire (Reply 16):
I'm currently stuck in Quito, Ecuador because my flight to GYE and ATL on Delta was cancelled last night. The flight to UIO leaves ATL at 4:30pm. Is the tornado warning the reason the flight was cancelled? Also, why would Delta cancel a flight to a city to where it flies only once per day? Delta has put everyone on the flight in the Hilton in Quito for two nights because we're not leaving until Sunday morning when a special non-scheduled flight is taking everyone from UIO to GYE and to ATL.

Count yourself lucky. The last time DL kept me overnight it was in a roach motel in an ATL warzone and I called out for food because there was no way in hell I was going to go walking in that neighborhood. The Colon in Quito is not bad at all and at least you can go into the park for the market this afternoon - not to be missed if you haven't done it yet. Of course the Colon in Guayaquil is really nice!

Back to your question, if a flight is cancelled due to weather, does it really matter how often the airline flies the route - if it's not safe, you don't fly.

airplanetire · Mon Jan 08, 2007 8:13 am

Thanks for all of your input on my questions. The two nights in Quito turned out being very nice. I suppose I was confused that Delta would cancel the flight becaue there are not many options for rerouting passengers out of Quito on other airlines and it would be expensive to put everyone in hotels that didn't have any place to stay (even with corporate discounts that Delta probably got). Delta has such a large 757 fleet that I would think they could have found a spare if the problem was mechanical. Would finding a crew have been difficult if the scheduled crew went over its hours? If it was a weather issue, how would Delta decide which flights to cancel (i.e. UIO and GYE instead of a city with a lot more flights that it would be easier to reschedule passengers on other flights instead of having to send a whole plane two days later)?

GECMD11 · Mon Jan 08, 2007 8:28 am

I'm North of ATL about 35min and it's just starting to rain.
were expecting very heavy rain sooooon!!
ATL looks like it's gonna get hit hard with some heavy rain any min.
stay safe guys.....

andrewuber · Mon Jan 08, 2007 8:38 am

Lovely. I'll be arriving on FL there in a few hours... hope everyone is OK.

Drew

AsstChiefMark · Mon Jan 08, 2007 8:43 am

Looks nasty. There are thunderstorm and tornado warnings being issued now.

GECMD11 · Mon Jan 08, 2007 9:00 am

it's getting worse the rain now,north of ATL.
my satellite TV service is now out......
Before it went out we were getting numous weather warnings !!!!!

litz · Mon Jan 08, 2007 9:07 am

It's no different now ... tornado warnings in PeachTree City, and it's headed directly for Camp Creek Parkway, and the KATL area.

FAA OIS reports 19 minute delays due to t-storms at this point (7:06 PM) but that will probably increase as the band passes.

Nice thing is, it's ONE band, then it's gone.

BTW, what's going on in Charlotte that has the airport closed due to "Other/Aircraft Incident" ?

- litz

[Edited 2007-01-08 01:12:41]

LAXintl · Mon Jan 08, 2007 9:25 am

Fun ATC listening if anyone is interested

http://atcmonitor.com/

Bicoastal · Mon Jan 08, 2007 9:31 am

Quoting Litz (Reply 14):
A friend of mine told me he saw a trash can flying past his office window during the height of the storms

How bright is your friend??? Shouldn't be anywhere near a window during this type of storm. Sounds like one of the people who rushed to look out the windows at the ATL terminal.

tys777 · Mon Jan 08, 2007 10:25 am

Diversions have begun to be seen in CHA and TYS

CHA has gotten a F9 A319, 2 CR2, 1 CR7 so far
TYS only has a CR2.

I'll update the rest later

BrandonB · Mon Jan 08, 2007 10:45 am

Wow what would happen if a tornado destroyed ATL??

Bicoastal · Mon Jan 08, 2007 11:13 am

Quoting Brandonb (Reply 30):
Wow what would happen if a tornado destroyed ATL??

US Airways might then rescind its offer.

andrewuber · Mon Jan 08, 2007 11:18 am

Quoting Bicoastal (Reply 31):

deltal1011man · Mon Jan 08, 2007 11:22 am

We hasd a tornado in fayette county at about 7:30ish from what im hearing its not to bad at ATL.

there was a tornado in Coweta County and im hearing people are traped in there houses

litz · Mon Jan 08, 2007 11:30 am

Quoting DeltaL1011man (Reply 33):
what im hearing its not to bad at ATL.

It took next to no time for the storm front to pass over KATL, once past they quickly started slotting people back in from the west, and started launching outbounds in the same direction.

So those diverts should be able to get in with little to no fuss.

There have been some hairy reports coming in on local media sources of damage down in Coweta and environs, though ...

As to what a tornado at ATL would do ... remember how BIG a major airport is ... and despite their ferocity, tornados have relatively small footprints. While I'm sure there'd be a lot of damage, I doubt it could completely destroy the entire airport.

- litz

bmacleod · Tue Jan 09, 2007 3:27 am

Quoting Brandonb (Reply 30):
Wow what would happen if a tornado destroyed ATL??

Well ATL would no longer be the world's busiest airport. DL would liquidate and most of the U.S. airline market would be in ruins at least for the short term.

This would make the 9/11 aftershocks look insignificant.....

foxecho · Tue Jan 09, 2007 3:30 am

Quoting Bicoastal (Reply 31):
US Airways might then rescind its offer

Holy crap that was funny! rotfl

Andrew
JFK/MEM/MCI

srbmod · Tue Jan 09, 2007 7:55 am

Quoting Litz (Reply 34):
It took next to no time for the storm front to pass over KATL, once past they quickly started slotting people back in from the west, and started launching outbounds in the same direction.

At my place (a few miles SSE of ATL), the heaviest rain lasted maybe 2-3 minutes and there was very little lightning at all.

The closest brush we've had with a tornado was back in the summer of '05 when Tropical Storm Cindy blew through. To this day, I swear I heard a tornado over the house.

Quoting Brandonb (Reply 30):
Wow what would happen if a tornado destroyed ATL??

Now if it were to destroy the old NW hangar, then that would be a good thing.

We've all seen pictures of damage done to smaller airports by tornadoes, could you imagine the type of carnage if a tornado were to hit a major airport like ATL or DFW?

zanl188 · Tue Jan 09, 2007 8:09 am

Quoting Srbmod (Reply 37):
could you imagine the type of carnage if a tornado were to hit a major airport like ATL or DFW?

No need to imagine.... check this out....

http://www.cowtown.net/proweb/tornado/tornado.htm

LAXdude1023 · Tue Jan 09, 2007 8:22 am

Quoting ZANL188 (Reply 38):
No need to imagine.... check this out....

Ahhh, takes me back to my days as a Tornado Spotter.

BrandonB · Tue Jan 09, 2007 8:38 am

It's weird how close tornados have come to hitting major airports like DFW, ATL, and ORD but have never have touched down near them. I don't think a F1 F2 or F3 Tornado could damage those airports maybe break some windows and move some aircrafts but that's about it. If an F4 or F5 hit I think it would be a disastor.

LAXdude1023 · Tue Jan 09, 2007 8:54 am

Quoting Brandonb (Reply 40):
I don't think a F1 F2 or F3 Tornado could damage those airports maybe break some windows and move some aircrafts but that's about it. If an F4 or F5 hit I think it would be a disastor.

It depends on how direct it hits. F1 probably wouldnt do much same with F2, but a decent F3 could do some major damage. I watched an F3 level some houses in North Texas a few years ago. Nothing was left of a few, just a foundation. Im sure had the same tornado gone over a major airport like ATL, DFW, or ORD, there would be parts of planes scattered.

This discussion takes my mind to Wichita, Kansas in 1991 when an F4 rolled over McConnell AFB. I wasnt there, but Ive seen the footage. Wild Stuff.

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