Posted on 12/26/2021 8:17:51 PM PST by DUMBGRUNT
Delta Air Lines flight from Seattle to Shanghai mysteriously turned back and returned to the United States nearly six hours into what should have been an 11 hours flight to China. The mid-air flight cancellation has resulted in a rebuke from the Chinese consulate in San Francisco which said on its WeChat account that it had “lodged a protest” with the airline.
Delta has since cancelled its planned service from Seattle to Shanghai until December 30 at the earliest but it remains unclear why the airline was forced to turn around in the first place.
According to witnesses on the flight, the pilot suggested that a change in entry requirements had been announced by the Chinese authorities at some point after takeoff. There was a fear that the passengers were no longer eligible to enter China so the only alternative was to fly back to Seattle.
Local Chinese media have been told by Shanghai airport officials that entry rules have not changed in some time and no sudden change had been made after DL287 departed. Passengers onboard the flight were so perplexed that they didn’t believe Delta staff and police were allegedly called once the aircraft arrived back in Seattle.
(Excerpt) Read more at paddleyourownkanoo.com ...
“What going on North Star on rong side of prane.”
Gates’ smallpox vials???
Omicron is now king in King County, where Seattle is.
China makes the maximum effort to keep Covid at bay.
I very much doubt China would have allowed the passengers to disembark.
>I was curious as to why it could not have gone to Honolulu.
Do a search on “great circle”. It’s the shortest distance between two points on the surface of a sphere. Hawaii is way out of the way.
The FAA said said come back so you come back.
It looks like a Jacksonville Jaguars running back — covered a lot of distance with absolutely no gain.
My first thought too. Someone on that flight was of particular interest to U.S. authorities.
Ho Lee Fuk
Yes they were.
I checked. The rule change was a stricter requirement to clean the airplane.
That results in longer cleaning time.
That results in the plane has to be on the ground for more than 3 hours
That results in the crew have to be quarantined for 2 weeks because they stay more than 3 hours.
That was not acceptable to Delta.
All Trump’s fault.
We are not laying US crews over in Shanghai. Everything that we are doing is basically a turn out of Incheon. Essentially the crew flies the jet into Incheon and then goes to the hotel. Then, another crew takes the plane to Shanghai and then back to Incheon. I don’t work for the same carrier by the way. I operated back from Taipei last night and we had screaming tail wins. Probably why it looks like on the map they went over halfway there when in terms of hours it was probably shorter to turn around and go back. I had 180 kn of wind on my tail last night, going across the ground at about 675 kn. Equal time during the crossing would’ve been much closer to the US than Asia because of the tailwind.
Yup!
Your post and Bigbrown’s #31 would seem to be likely answers to the headline question.
Was the pilot logged in?
At what flight level do you start to get really fast jet stream winds? 180 knots seems incredible. Is the jet stream faster over the ocean?
Do you have to keep nosing the plane down when you fly a plane to keep from flying off into space?
I’ve flown that route. The Delta flight is most likely a “Korean Air” Delta affiliate.
Korean Air also serves many cities in China including Wuhan.
Holy crap. 180 kt tail winds? Is that usual for that route? That is absolutely amazing. Rough ride with that tail wind?
Good research thanks.
The chicoms didn’t want the chicom flu imported? Seems odd.
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