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Frustrated with Inaccurate Estimated Taxi Times?
FlightAware launches new predictive technology to take the guesstimate out of taxi times. (flightaware.com) Más...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
None of that matters. Airlines use various data to tout their on-time performance: wheels-up, flying time, landing, and so on. The only useful metric answers the simple question, "Did I arrive on time?" which is when the aircraft door opens at the arrival gate. Everything else in between is pointless.
The 'out' time and 'in' time are usually linked to the aircraft's brakes, so that's the time the airline I worked for used for the block time.
Frustrated with the definition of taxi time, certainly, since the estimates will be skewed depending which data one collects or ignores. Do you track taxiing aircraft or just take the OOOI from the carriers? Do you have a way to distinguish between a plane that's actually taxiing and one that pushed back only to be towed back to the stand for *cough* a minor issue? Will you include data from aircraft that lose their squawk or ADS-B fix between runway and stand, or set the parking brake while waiting for their designated stand to be ready for them? Will your taxi times include the prolonged waits in the penalty box or while on queue for de-icing? And will you finally start reporting the "gate arrival" for freighters and other aircraft that don't pull up to a jetbridge?
The service you describe may be useful to some operators. In particular, it may be useful to operators at heavily congested (overbooked slots) airports. Newark EWR comes to mind. At peak times, ALL taxiways resemble a parking lot. Ground desk has the thankless job to keep aircraft flowing without full gridlock.
Last week, I arrived as EWR from SFO at 7 PM local, when the weather had been low clouds the entire day. After landing, it took a full 50 minutes of taxi time until we reached the UNOCCUPIED gate.
Many of the a/c awaiting takeoff had 2 to 3 hour waits in the queue that day.
Last week, I arrived as EWR from SFO at 7 PM local, when the weather had been low clouds the entire day. After landing, it took a full 50 minutes of taxi time until we reached the UNOCCUPIED gate.
Many of the a/c awaiting takeoff had 2 to 3 hour waits in the queue that day.
Speaking purely from personal experience as a passenger -
Taxiing at the new IST seems to take longer than the flight from ECN ð
Taxiing at the new IST seems to take longer than the flight from ECN ð
one probloem with taxi times being erratic, unpredictable , is the fuel used to taxi, sit, taxi , sit. THe air gets a bit foul to breath in such cases. A fleet of tow vehicles used to move airliners from gate to near the runway, ready to position and hold, remains a good thought . Start up engines closer to the end of the runway has few bad side effects.
...and there's the possibility of using electric vehicles for towing - plenty of space on airport buildings for solar panels...
Or they could use conveyor belts like they use for the luggage. :-)
You forgot the /S at the end of your comment ;)
I did say that I'm only an uninformed {although interested) passenger!
I did say that I'm only an uninformed {although interested) passenger!