Delays and chaos
19/07/24 02:22
My parents were both pilots and together they founded, owned and operated Sky Flight, Inc., an aviation services company that provided sales, instruction, maintenance, fuel and other services to general aviation pilots. Sky Flight bid for and secured contracts to provide aviation services to the Forest Service and to Yellowstone National Park. The company flew regular fire patrols, provided aircraft for game counts and for tracking animals equipped with radio collars. A subsidiary company, Yellowstone Air Service, owned by Sky Flight provided charter flights and operated an air ambulance.
I grew up with the phrase, “Time to spare, go by air.” Although my father was rated as an instrument pilot and an instrument instructor, the aircraft we could afford to operate were definitely not all weather airplanes. Without equipment for flying into known icing conditions, and without pressurization that allows flight into higher altitudes, Sky Flight pilots had to keep track of weather patterns and forecasts and be prepared to use alternate airports or to stay on the ground when severe weather threatened. There were many times when our father’s flights were delayed by weather and he spent time on the ground waiting for better conditions.
When I was old enough to earn my pilot’s license, I became a pilot, but was only licensed to fly in visual flight conditions, which meant that I could not fly into clouds. I’ve spent considerable time on the ground waiting for fog to clear or for weather conditions to improve. There were many times when it would have been much quicker to drive than flying under Visual Flight Rules.
Even traveling by airlines can result in delays. Once I spent my wife’s birthday stuck in the Denver Airport being bumped from flight after flight because of overbooking and cancelled flights. Another time Susan and I rented a car and drove from Denver to Rapid City on slippery winter roads because we otherwise would have been waiting in a motel for an available flight.
Last night we were prepared to take our daughter to Vancouver International Airport to board a red eye flight that would connect to a short flight to Columbia near their home. The flight was originally scheduled for a 10 pm departure and she had been advised by the airline to arrive at the airport three hours early because of the international flight. Although we live only 40 miles from Vancouver International, we were allowing an hour and a half to get to the airport so that we would have time for any delays at the border. As the afternoon went on we received notice from the airline that the flight was delayed, so we delayed our departure from home by an hour. Then, as we were driving out of our neighborhood, we received notice of another delay from the airlines that put the departure time after midnight. That delay meant that our daughter and grandson would miss their connecting flight so she called the airlines to check on rebooking. The trip was complicated because when they arrive in South Carolina they are depending on friends to meet them at the airport to drive them back to their home which is a ways from a city served by airlines.
The easiest rebooking was to delay the flight by 24 yours. We were happy because we get another day with our daughter and our grandson. Various family members and friends were called to coordinate the trip and everything was in place when we went to bed last night.
I checked the computer when I got up to find out that all flights of American Airlines, the carrier on which they were planning to travel, had been forced to cancel all flights. It is still unclear whether or not the airlines will be able to provide service tonight, but the problem is much bigger than American Airlines. American Airlines says Crowdstrike, a cybersecurity company is the source of tech issues that caused their computer systems to disrupt flights. There is a huge disruption in transportation worldwide with computer systems failing. Other airlines are cancelling flights and airports are filling with people attempting to find ways to travel. Alaska police warn that the 911 system is unavailable. Shipping terminals are turning away container ships. The Paris Olympics It systems are affected. Rail companies are experiencing widespread IT issues. In Delhi all electronic check in terminals were shut down. In several major airports, airline companies are unable to use their electronic message boards. Some airlines are using white boards to update flight information. People stranded in airports are discovering that computer systems allowing for credit card payment for food are down and coffee shops and restaurants are unable to accept card payment. People traveling with electronic boarding passes find that none of the machines to read the passes are working. Those seeking to bypass the card reader problem by withdrawing cash from ATMs are discovering that the ATMs are not working. Some radio and television stations have gone off the air due to computer service problems. In the UK, the national Pharmacy Association reports that accessing prescription medicines is disrupted.
In short it is chaos.
Fortunately for us, our daughter and grandson are safe in our home and not stranded in an airport. For now they are rebooked on a flight that may leave on time if the IT problems can be solved today. It is a minor inconvenience for them. We are much more fortunate than the families of millions of air travelers who are stranded in airports with limited access to service.
Time to spare, go by air.
We have grown dependent upon computer systems. We continually rely on technology for all kinds of day to day living. It remains to be seen how widespread the problem is or how quickly companies can get computer systems operating normally. Meanwhile, we’ve got plenty of food in our pantry and freezers, we have electricity to run our home and our cars happen to be full of fuel. I have enough cash to make any emergency transactions. And we get extra time with our daughter and grandson.
As the IT systems are restored companies will have to deal with the backlog of stranded customers and cancelled flights. With any luck we may even get to have our daughter and grandson with us for an additional day. We could even make some progress on the backlog of leftover food in our refrigerator.
I grew up with the phrase, “Time to spare, go by air.” Although my father was rated as an instrument pilot and an instrument instructor, the aircraft we could afford to operate were definitely not all weather airplanes. Without equipment for flying into known icing conditions, and without pressurization that allows flight into higher altitudes, Sky Flight pilots had to keep track of weather patterns and forecasts and be prepared to use alternate airports or to stay on the ground when severe weather threatened. There were many times when our father’s flights were delayed by weather and he spent time on the ground waiting for better conditions.
When I was old enough to earn my pilot’s license, I became a pilot, but was only licensed to fly in visual flight conditions, which meant that I could not fly into clouds. I’ve spent considerable time on the ground waiting for fog to clear or for weather conditions to improve. There were many times when it would have been much quicker to drive than flying under Visual Flight Rules.
Even traveling by airlines can result in delays. Once I spent my wife’s birthday stuck in the Denver Airport being bumped from flight after flight because of overbooking and cancelled flights. Another time Susan and I rented a car and drove from Denver to Rapid City on slippery winter roads because we otherwise would have been waiting in a motel for an available flight.
Last night we were prepared to take our daughter to Vancouver International Airport to board a red eye flight that would connect to a short flight to Columbia near their home. The flight was originally scheduled for a 10 pm departure and she had been advised by the airline to arrive at the airport three hours early because of the international flight. Although we live only 40 miles from Vancouver International, we were allowing an hour and a half to get to the airport so that we would have time for any delays at the border. As the afternoon went on we received notice from the airline that the flight was delayed, so we delayed our departure from home by an hour. Then, as we were driving out of our neighborhood, we received notice of another delay from the airlines that put the departure time after midnight. That delay meant that our daughter and grandson would miss their connecting flight so she called the airlines to check on rebooking. The trip was complicated because when they arrive in South Carolina they are depending on friends to meet them at the airport to drive them back to their home which is a ways from a city served by airlines.
The easiest rebooking was to delay the flight by 24 yours. We were happy because we get another day with our daughter and our grandson. Various family members and friends were called to coordinate the trip and everything was in place when we went to bed last night.
I checked the computer when I got up to find out that all flights of American Airlines, the carrier on which they were planning to travel, had been forced to cancel all flights. It is still unclear whether or not the airlines will be able to provide service tonight, but the problem is much bigger than American Airlines. American Airlines says Crowdstrike, a cybersecurity company is the source of tech issues that caused their computer systems to disrupt flights. There is a huge disruption in transportation worldwide with computer systems failing. Other airlines are cancelling flights and airports are filling with people attempting to find ways to travel. Alaska police warn that the 911 system is unavailable. Shipping terminals are turning away container ships. The Paris Olympics It systems are affected. Rail companies are experiencing widespread IT issues. In Delhi all electronic check in terminals were shut down. In several major airports, airline companies are unable to use their electronic message boards. Some airlines are using white boards to update flight information. People stranded in airports are discovering that computer systems allowing for credit card payment for food are down and coffee shops and restaurants are unable to accept card payment. People traveling with electronic boarding passes find that none of the machines to read the passes are working. Those seeking to bypass the card reader problem by withdrawing cash from ATMs are discovering that the ATMs are not working. Some radio and television stations have gone off the air due to computer service problems. In the UK, the national Pharmacy Association reports that accessing prescription medicines is disrupted.
In short it is chaos.
Fortunately for us, our daughter and grandson are safe in our home and not stranded in an airport. For now they are rebooked on a flight that may leave on time if the IT problems can be solved today. It is a minor inconvenience for them. We are much more fortunate than the families of millions of air travelers who are stranded in airports with limited access to service.
Time to spare, go by air.
We have grown dependent upon computer systems. We continually rely on technology for all kinds of day to day living. It remains to be seen how widespread the problem is or how quickly companies can get computer systems operating normally. Meanwhile, we’ve got plenty of food in our pantry and freezers, we have electricity to run our home and our cars happen to be full of fuel. I have enough cash to make any emergency transactions. And we get extra time with our daughter and grandson.
As the IT systems are restored companies will have to deal with the backlog of stranded customers and cancelled flights. With any luck we may even get to have our daughter and grandson with us for an additional day. We could even make some progress on the backlog of leftover food in our refrigerator.
