Snow predictions for Brussels Airport (and other airports)

[luchtzak]

New snow is expected at Brussels Airport tonight and tomorrow, Brussels Airlines already informed passenger to come early to the airport and to check flight status before coming to the airport.

http://www.brusselsairlines.com/en_be/f ... popup.Aspx

Furthermore Charleroi Airport is suffering from the snow: viewtopic.php?p=278044#p278044

[jan_olieslagers]

EBCI is troubled by fog, not snow.

And there have been too many snow warnings recently that turned to nothing - could the meteorologists be fed up with getting flamed for snow they did NOT warn for, so that they prefer to err on the "safe" side?

[sn26567]

Snow in Paris: 20% of flights are cancelled at Orly and 25% at CDG on Tuesday 12th (source: Civil Aviation Authority)

Snow in Frankfurt: Flight disruption at Frankfurt Airport due to weather conditions on 12 March 2013. Please check the status of your flight at http://f.lh.com/nton and your booking prior to departure at http://f.lh.com/w4aW. Alternative flights with a check-in option will be available, if possible. List of cancelled flights: http://f.lh.com/vUQm

[sn26567]

Liège is closed, Charleroi has important delays, Brussels was running more or less normally.

Brussels Airport is fully operational despite adverse weather conditions. Heavy wind is challenging our winter operations. We cannot use salt due to the risk of corrosion to the airplanes and have 370 hectares to cover, but our winter teams have everything under control.

As a result of de-icing and runway clearing operations, both departing and arriving flights might be delayed. Please consult your flight information on http://www.brusselsairport.be before coming to the airport or contact your airline for further information. As the snowfall is also affecting road traffic, we advise you to leave for the airport well ahead of your departure time, or to take the train.

... until ...

SNOW UPDATE: Due to the snow at Brussels Airport, we are forced to cancel some of our flights this morning. Brussels Airport and our de-icing handlers are doing their utmost to clear runways and aprons of snow. However, flights may be delayed as a result of snow-clearing and aircraft de-icing operations. Click for more information.

[euroflyer]

snow falling in FRA all morning, turning quite nasty at the moment, very low visibility, already now 100+ flights in FRA are cancelled for today (incl. most to BRU), Iooking out of my window (about 15km west of FRA) right now I would expect many more cancellations soon ...

[euroflyer]

according to latest news reports in Germany FRA has been closed ... can anybody confirm this?

more than 1,200 flights seem to be affected ...

http://www.spiegel.de/reise/aktuell/win ... 88362.html

[sn26567]

SNOW UPDATE: Please allow enough time to come to the airport, as traffic is very busy. Check the status of your flight before leaving for he airport though. A list of cancelled flights can be found on wwww.brusselsairlines.com

[epsilon]

Due to the chaotic situation at EDDF airport, it is anticipated for the afternoon to have
a regulation with FCM implemented.
This will suspend all flights.
AOs are requested to confirm only the flight they will operate.
It is important for the CDM process that all opeartors update both their EOBTs' AND TOBT according to their realistic opeartions.

NMOC - Brussels

EDDF Arrivals
Aerodrome not available for arrivals from 0930 until 1400 UTC!

REF : EBBRA12
.
VALID : WEF: WIE
.
TFC CONCERNED: EBBR ARRIVALS
.
REMARKS : THE SITUATION FOR EBBR HAS IMPROVED.
XCD HAS BEEN CANCELLED, NORMAL REGULATION
CONTINUES.
.
NETWORK MANAGER OPERATIONS CENTRE - BRUSSELS

[Acid-drop]

LGG is now open again it seems, it can act as a backup for CRL which had no backup for several hours, Lille was closed too, and Germany and Holland too busy.

We have to note the very good situation handling at BRU ... what happened in the beginning of the winter is clearly a human mistake, they showed now they can do it when they want.

[sn26567]

Brussels Airport managed to stay open all day. There were only 4% cancellations (25 out of more than 600 flights).

[RoMax]

Wow, I'm in Amsterdam this week and it's cold overhere, but for the rest the sun has been shining during the whole day, but snow?! Not at all. But Belgium, Germany, England, France,...seem like a reall mess (and parts of the south of the Netherlands, but not so extreme). The traffic jam in Belgium this morning (and other snow-related problems) was the first thing I heard on the radio this morning, while looking outside of my window to a sunny sky

Anyway, nice to see how BRU handled the situation. I also like the communication of both BRU and SN on social media and things like that. Seems like they learned a lot during the past months.

[airazurxtror]

Well, I was at Zaventem this morning, to take the easyJet flight to Berlin.
Three EZY flights arrive at about the same time : from Malpensa, Geneva and Berlin.
The flight from Malpensa had a good pilot that landed a bit after 9; the two other pilots were unable to land at BRU and went to Amsterdam - and remained there the whole morning.
At 13 o'clock, I had had enough and took the exit to go back home in Brussels center.
But it was not any easier !
There was no train at the station; there was no STIB bus at the bus stop (there were however many "De Lijn" buses arriving and departing).
And, that goes without saying, nobody from the airport staff to advise the travellers ...
Eventually, arrived a STIB bus, but it was going only to Bordet, the driver having completed his dayly job.
At Bordet, after rather a long time, a tram 55 eventually took us to Rogier ...
Not a good day for me to remember ... But sure a very good day for the taxis !

[AvroRider]

The flight from Malpensa had a good pilot that landed a bit after 9; the two other pilots were unable to land at BRU and went to Amsterdam - and remained there the whole morning.

What kind of facts do you base yourself to say this one is better than the two others ? Because he landed in BRU and the others not ? Do you know the conditions at the time the two others arrived ? Snow clearing in progress in BRU just after the 1st one ? I'm curious to know.

What a joke...and some here call themselves "aviation professionals"...

[airazurxtror]

What a joke...and some here call themselves "aviation professionals"...

I have never claimed to be a "aviation professional" - God forbid ! - I am just a (fairly) frequent traveller.
When three pilots arrive at the same time, one can land, the others cannot, in my view the first is a better pilot than the others. Like in any profession, I guess some pilots are better than others, it's only normal.

[RoMax]

I have never claimed to be a "aviation professional" - I am just a (fairly) frequent traveller.
When three pilots arrive at the same time, one can land, the others cannot, in my view the first is a better pilot than the others. Like in any profession, some pilots are better than others, it's only normal.

Wow, talking about a special vision on this matter...

[KriVa]

Not necessarily. The first crew may have been fully qualified to fly the ILS approach, and the two other crews not(due to many, many different possible reasons), in which case they would have to fly a LOC DME approach. In that case, they need to have at least 1400m of visibility, which could well have been busted at BRU this morning.
Second scenario, they may have seen the delays coming, suspecting they wouldn't get in on time, and deciding to divert. In this case, their actions may just have kept your next ticket a bit cheaper.

Also, it's funny how differently people react in these two, rather identical hypothetical scenarios.
a. Runway contaminated, visibility poor. The pilot still tries to land, taking a risk, and makes it off the runway in one piece. Everybody is ecstatic.
b. Runway contaminated, visibility poor (same scenario as before). The pilot still tries to land, decides to err on the side of safety and goes around. Subsequently they divert, and everybody gets upset.

I don't get this response.

[Zorba]

Why would a RYR pilot not be able to fly an ILS approach? That sounds rather weird to me.

[KriVa]

I was not talking about being able to do it, but about being allowed to do it. If your airplane, or one of the crew members, is not allowed to fly the ILS approach for whatever reason, you might run into this situation.
I'm not saying it was the reason here, just a possibility.

[JAF737]

Every single IFR rated pilot can fly an ILS approach. You mix that up with the ILS categories (CATI, CATII, CATIIIA/B/C). CATII and CATIII minima's require various qualifications (of the pilots) and certifications (of the aircraft and airline). And indeed, not everybody is CATIII qualified, depending on the airline's wishes and pilot qualifications (internally done).

[AvroRider]

What a joke...and some here call themselves "aviation professionals"...

I have never claimed to be a "aviation professional" - God forbid ! - I am just a (fairly) frequent traveller.
When three pilots arrive at the same time, one can land, the others cannot, in my view the first is a better pilot than the others. Like in any profession, I guess some pilots are better than others, it's only normal.

Well I suggest you remain a frequent traveller and do not comment any technical aspects as long as you do not master it, before telling non senses. I don't know what you do as job but I will never comment your job as long as I do not master or have technical background about it.
It is very arbitrary to say : "one can land, the others cannot". Their are tremendous factors to take into account about the reason the "others" couldn't land.
The problem in aviation is that a lot of people are thinking, they know the business but they DON'T, AT ALL. The so called specialists are quit often people like you "frequent traveller, journalist, etc...". Our job is so technical and precise that one cannot pretend to know our business unless he studied it.
You do not comment a doctor's job so don't comment a pilot's job.

As JAF737 said. Some peoples are mixing up Operator Certification (Aircraft/Airline) and ILS categories. For instance RYR is only CAT I certified (Airline wish to pay less because you have to certify your crew, aircrafts and airline). SN and JAF are CAT III as well as easyJet.

FYI : I'm not a EZY pilot, i'm just a colleague from an other airline trying to STOP those commentators telling non senses.

Have a nice day.