It's that time of year again when the Northern Hemisphere is experiencing a deep winter and severe weather can cause delays at major airports.
If you traveled through JFK International Airport in New York in 2018, you could still be troubled by the bomb cyclone that closed the country's main entry point.
If you frequently fly out of or into Chicago's O'Hare International Airport (ORD), you are well familiar with the misery of delays caused by inclement weather.
Heathrow Airport (LHR) in London is also susceptible.
You've probably experienced this situation: you're on an aircraft, waiting — and waiting — as snow flies outside.
You might also have missed your flight because of fog.
A second such storm is growing just before the hectic Christmas travel season and is in danger of bringing bad weather to major cities in the Great Plains, Midwest, and East Coast.
The inconvenience must be dealt with by passengers at the airport or on their phones as they attempt to rebook, but what about pilots?
From the cockpit, what do these kinds of weather conditions look like?
And how precisely do pilots for airlines deal with the harsh winter weather, such as snowstorms and strong winds?
Which weather conditions do pilots, if any, find particularly terrifying?
We turned to an authority for the solutions: a pilot who flies Boeing 787s for a significant international airline and has seen various types of weather all around the world.
He detailed flying in difficult winter weather for us in an email.
To allow him to speak as openly as possible, we have withheld his name.
For conciseness and clarity, we made minor edits.
What he said was as follows.
The worst is snow
There are difficulties associated with each sort of weather.
Conditions on the approach and departure may be bumpy due to strong winds.
To keep from veering off course when the wind is across the runway, we must fly "crabbed" into it.
The moment the plane is a few feet above the runway is when our proficiency is put to the test.
We must straighten the nose while ensuring that the aircraft continues to follow the centerline using one of the few allowed ways.
The majority of pilots will respond that a successful crosswind landing is their most fulfilling moment at work.
Fog also causes us to reflect.
Bring your "A" game while you're hurtling down the runway at 195 mph and have barely 250 feet of visibility in front of you.
We keep everyone on board secure thanks to rigorously tested protocols for circumstances like this.
The largest obstacle to our professional skills, though, is likely to be snow and ice conditions.
Your pilots are likewise traveling to the airport in a cab as you are, contemplating the difficulties that lie ahead.
Days with bad weather demand more concentration and consideration.
A lot of attention is paid to the weather and how it can affect flights during a pilot's basic training.
We learn to appreciate the weather and never take any chances with it from a very young age.
The forces of nature are strong.
How much snow has fallen thus far?
What is the weather like today?
Which type of snow is that?
How is the wind behaving?
Before we even get to the airport, we'll be wondering all of these things.
Contamination of flying surfaces during snowy weather is the biggest danger to flight safety.
The wings' cutting-edge construction means that any snow or ice on the surface will have a significant impact on the aircraft's performance.
The aircraft needs airflow across the wing in order to generate lift and rise away from the runway.
The engines just provide the forward motion; the airflow is what actually propels us through the air.
The pilots determine the speed needed to safely take off for each flight.
Based on the weight of the aircraft, the weather, and the runway conditions at takeoff.
The aircraft rotates into the air as soon as we reach this velocity, or "Vr," at which point we let up on the controls.
However, this speed is predicated on a clearing that is uncontaminated by snow or ice.
The airflow and, subsequently, the lift can be impacted by accumulations on the flying surfaces, which could cause the calculated Vr speed to be excessively sluggish with potentially devastating results.
One of the pilots inspects the aircraft physically before each flight by walking around it.
An important aspect of this during snowy weather is to check for contamination.
The wings, engines, and external sensors are all closely examined.
Look out of the cabin window to examine the upper surface of the wing, as this is frequently the only way to do so. If you see the pilot doing this, it's a positive indicator.
We can choose the type of de-icing operation to use to make the aircraft safe for takeoff based on the results of these examinations.
When in question about the severity of the contamination, we always assume the worse.
It is preferable to de-ice too much than not enough.
De-icing on the cake
As much as you do, we also long to be at home with our loved ones.
While we constantly pay attention to being on time, we are very conscious of the fact that punctuality can frequently work against safety.
Keeping that balance is our responsibility.
We are aware that you have connections as you wait to be de-iced at the entrance.
You have meetings, as we are aware.
You just want to go home, we get that.
However, there are numerous instances in aviation history where pilots have tried to save a few minutes by cutting corners, only to subsequently regret their actions.
But why does de-icing take so much time?
A plane can be de-iced in one of two ways: at the gate with the engines off, or in a remote de-icing area with the engines running.
It depends on the airport and the amenities that are offered.
Remote de-icing facilities are more commonly found in airports that frequently receive snow and ice.
A good example is the Montreal-Trudeau International Airport (YUL).
Trucks that de-ice aircraft at the gate are typically present at airports that see severe conditions just a few times per year, like Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR).
Now you're probably wondering why these large airports like Newark don't just have better facilities.
Space and price are the key considerations.
The price and space requirements for remote de-icing pads are substantially higher.
If you knew that, for the few days a year it snows, a shovel would work just fine, would you invest thousands of dollars on a fancy electric snow-clearing apparatus for your home?
Depending on how much snow and ice is on the aircraft, the de-icing procedure could take anywhere from a few minutes to 30.
You can understand why delays grow fast when there are only a few de-icing trucks available.
We continue to be at ease in the flight deck throughout.
These processes cannot be hurried.
Allow the skilled personnel to do their tasks, and when the de-icing is finished, it's finished.
The timer starts to run once de-icing is finished.
If snow is still falling, it won't be long until it starts to build up on the wing once more.
We calculate how long we have until we need to be in the air or de-ice again during this period, which is known as the carryover time.
The amount of time required for de-icing varies on the de-icing fluid used, the air temperature, and the type of precipitation that is falling.
We are once again the gatekeepers of safety, despite the appearance that getting airborne in this scenario is a race against time.
In the event that the taxi to the runway takes too long and our carryover time expires, we must return to be de-iced once more.
We are trying our best to keep you safe, but there will be extra delays and annoyance for you.
On a snow-covered runway, you can indeed take off.
Our attention sharpens as we get closer to the runway.
Air traffic control is being continuously monitored by us.
When snow-related poor visibility prevents us from seeing landing aircraft, we must create an internal mental map of where other aircraft are.
ATC should always communicate in English, the aviation industry's official language, for this reason.
We can determine whether one aircraft is about to land or whether another is taking off farther down the runway by listening to directions given to other aircraft.
The runway conditions will also be disclosed to us by ATC, which is where my asterisk comes in.
Depending on how slippery it is and how much snow has accumulated, you can take off on a runway that is coated in snow.
There are various types of snow.
It may be quite dry or quite damp.
The air temperature is mostly responsible for this.
There may be occasions when it is possible to take off with snow on the runway if it is extremely dry, as it frequently is in regions like northern Canada and Scandinavia.
The runway's traction will determine this.
The majority of airports have specialized vehicles with a roller on the back that can determine just how slick the runway is.
The information is subsequently given to the pilots, who use it to calculate the performance of their aircraft during takeoff and landing, as was previously indicated.
However, the runway becomes slick the wetter the snow is.
When the air temperature is not too low, this is characteristic of snowstorms along the Eastern Seaboard of the United States.
The runway needs to be cleaned and treated with anti-ice when it is this slick.
Naturally, this can require some time, during which we have very little choice but to wait.
Again, everything is done for your protection.
In order to make sure that the performance we previously computed is still accurate, we continuously evaluate the weather as we get closer to the runway before takeoff.
The performance calculations must be redone if anything has changed, which takes time.
We won't inform ATC that we're prepared to take off until we're confident that the aircraft is clear of any snow and ice and that the performance is still valid.
In conclusion
We want to know that we will take off safely as we line up on that runway with more than 200 lives aboard.
We make sure you arrive at your destination safely even if it's a few hours late by strictly following all these measures.
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