What if the plane is grounded because of the weather?

Correctly understand the flight delay caused by weather

In modern society, people have more and more opportunities to travel by air. Once they encounter flight delays, they are often told that their flights will be delayed due to the weather. This is a flight delay.

So, what are the so-called weather reasons that cause flight delays?

Such as fog, thunderstorm, storm, runway snow, icing, low visibility, etc. Are all bad conditions that will endanger flight safety.

The weather may cause flight delays. Some passengers may think that if this weather happens at their own airport, it will only lead to flight delays. In fact, the "weather reasons" mentioned by the civil aviation department include many situations: the weather conditions at the departure airport are not suitable for take-off; The weather conditions at the destination airport are not suitable for landing; The weather conditions of the flight route are not suitable for flying over, and so on.

Some passengers often ask seemingly reasonable questions, but they don't know much about the "weather reason". For example:

1. The city where the destination airport is located has good weather and good visibility, but the plane is still delayed due to the weather.

In fact, the weather conditions in the city where the destination airport is located are good, which does not mean that the airport is suitable for aircraft landing. Low clouds and thunderstorm areas covering the airport take-off and landing passages are common factors leading to this delay. In order to ensure flight safety, even if the plane is in the automatic landing state, the pilot must be able to see the runway and ground completely at a certain height (generally 60 meters) before landing. If you can't see the runway at this time, you are not allowed to land.

2. The city where the destination airport is located has good weather conditions and good visibility, and the airport is taking off and landing normally. Why is the flight still delayed because of the weather?

This situation is often because the meteorological conditions of the flight route are not suitable for flying over, such as thunderstorm area, in which case the plane can only wait on the ground. Once there is a thunderstorm area on a narrow route, it can be bypassed under certain conditions. However, due to flight safety and national defense needs, civil aviation routes are strictly restricted, and there is little room for flying around and turning around. When the thunderstorm area is large, this method will not work.

It's the same flight to a certain place. Why can some people go, but others are told that they can't because of the weather?

There are many possibilities for this situation. First of all, it should be clear that the standard of aircraft take-off and landing is related to the aircraft type, and the specific safety standards formulated by the same aircraft in various airlines may be different, and the captain's decision on the current weather and trends will be different. This depends on the captain's judgment on the state of the plane, airport, weather, etc. According to the Civil Aviation Law, the pilot-in-command has the right to refuse to fly if he finds that the civil aircraft, airport and meteorological conditions do not meet the requirements and cannot guarantee flight safety.

4. Why didn't you tell me that I couldn't land at the destination airport because of the weather, and I had to alternate to other airports or return, and some planes could land normally?

Although the meteorological department of civil aviation will rely on advanced equipment to continuously issue more accurate weather change trend forecasts to facilitate flight operation and scheduling, the weather conditions are constantly changing, and it is difficult to accurately judge, which will lead to the sudden deterioration of weather conditions near landing and the inability of aircraft to land. For safety reasons, or there is not enough fuel to continue hovering and wait for the weather to improve, the plane has to alternate to other airports.

The weather is constantly changing, and it may be bad weather for a short time, so it is very common to let the plane land five minutes ago and five minutes later, and your plane just caught up with the bad weather and could not land. At the same time, as mentioned above, when the weather is on the edge of the standard, it is up to the captain to decide whether to land. The captain thinks that the weather is not suitable for landing at other airports or returning to other airports, and should absolutely support it.

Passengers who have delayed flights due to weather can ask the airport to provide explanations of the reasons for the delay and make safety arrangements, or they can report to airlines and civil aviation authorities. However, it is not appropriate to take excessive actions such as seizing the opportunity and forcibly breaking into the security checkpoint. Because excessive behavior will affect aviation safety and social order, and may lead to more flight delays and affect the normal flight of passengers. Some passengers were punished for their excesses, such as being detained or fined, which caused adverse consequences.