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Flight to Phoenix returns to Houston due to heat
"The temperature limitation for this aircraft [Embraer 175] to operate safely was 118," according to a United Airlines spokeswoman. "Temperatures are not expected to hit that peak heat today [Monday] so we do not anticipate impact on operations due to the heat." (www.azfamily.com) Más...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
"When Phoenix had its hottest day on record in 1990 with temperatures hitting 122 degrees, airlines grounded all the flights out of Phoenix Sky Harbor". And on that day I was in my hangar at ADS working on an airplane in blue jean shorts, t-shirt, and sneakers. Get a call from dispatch and it's ASAP Falcon trip to PHX. Seems its 122 and nobody but Dassault has charts to 125 and somebody needs car parts and nobody is flying. I told Yant (the dispatcher) "I can't go dressed like this" and he said "sure you can". So off I went with the other guy who was obviously over dressed! I did put on my cleanest t-shirt. When we deplaned at Cutter the experienced line guy looked at me and grinned and said "Man, you got a hell of a boss if that's your uniform on a day like this". It was very quiet at PHX. And a "dry heat".
Love 1st-hand historical accounts such as this.
I happened to be flying into PHX that day from Baltimore. I remember the pilot saying we could land there, but he couldn't guess when anyone with a connection would be able to leave. Yes, it was toasty!
I was living in PHX on that record day back in '90.
I am told that Southwest Airlines (WN) is one of the few carriers exempt from such temperature restrictions. Many years ago WN paid Boeing $$ for customized engineering performance data, so as to operate out of PHX, TUC, and others in the summer.
Boeing's expansion of performance envelope calculations was more related to selling planes to Middle East customers
It's currently 122F here in Kuwait. You can see all kinds of aircraft from small GA, to military jets, to biz jets, to A380s operating in the heat here with few problems. If you pay the manufacturer extra to do the testing, they'll re-write the charts for you to cover your conditions.