Ryanair - Dublin Airport Issue

Cherrypipp1

This is on the Ryanair website:

IRELAND: Flight operations have resumed at Dublin Airport following heavy snowfalls during the afternoon, however a number of flights have been cancelled due to fuelling companies refusing to operate on the ramp, claiming hazardous conditions

So not only do we have to hope that flights will land or take off, but now we have to hope that the aircraft fuel companies will actually take their fragile widdle bodies onto the tarmac. Are you kidding me!? Surely if a plane can land on the damn runway and taxi up to the gate, they can drive their fuelling truck up to the aircraft and fuel the bloody thing. I am so over this snow and the complete ineptitude that the country is showing in dealing with it. I think it's just mean spirited to refuse to fuel an aircraft when it's proving almost impossible to get them in here in the first place when there are thousands of people all over Europe trying to get home. Pathetic.

mac80

The paths for the aircraft to taxi are clearedof ice although the tankers have to drive on ice to get there. Its a health and safety i'd say. With Ryanair there is alway more to the story !!!

up for anything

Maybe it's worth thinking what could happen if a fuel truck had a bad skid and hit something. Fireball perhaps. As a company would you force one of your employees into driving one. Also worth thinking about is if a fuel truck won't go on the runway, should aircraft be taking off and landing.

mac80

The tankers dont use the runways they drive up to where the planes are parked. It is lethal out there, like driving on an ice rink ..

AfterDusk

up for anything wrote: »

Maybe it's worth thinking what could happen if a fuel truck had a bad skid and hit something. Fireball perhaps.

There's no fuel in them trucks. They take the fuel from big tanks in the ground, and it's fed through the pipes on the truck.

The only time there'd be fuel in them is if an a/c had to de-fuel

Hal1

up for anything wrote: »

Maybe it's worth thinking what could happen if a fuel truck had a bad skid and hit something. Fireball perhaps. As a company would you force one of your employees into driving one. Also worth thinking about is if a fuel truck won't go on the runway, should aircraft be taking off and landing.

A bit die hard 2

John McClane: Holly! Here's your ****ing landing light. Whoo!

:pac:.

up for anything

Sure what do I know except what I've seen on telly. :P

Irish Steve

neil2304 wrote: »

There's no fuel in them trucks. They take the fuel from big tanks in the ground, and it's fed through the pipes on the truck.

The only time there'd be fuel in them is if an a/c had to de-fuel

Sorry, that should be true for T2, but not sure if it happened, and for the rest of the place, it was supposed to happen years ago, but didn't for all sorts of reasons, some union, some management and some legal, apparently there are some legal limitations on fuel pipes in general in Ireland that at one time prevented the use of underground fuelling systems at the airport.

Means that something like the Delta 777's need up to 3 tankers of fuel loading before they can make the flight back to Atlanta.

If the drivers are refusing to fuel aircraft, that suggests that the DAA have not done an adequate job of clearing and de icing the areas around the gates. From experience, that wouldn't altogether surprise me.

The 737 is not a large aircraft, so the fuel trucks don't fit under the wing, so they have to drag hoses from the truck to the fuel loading connection, and the hoses are not light, which may be a factor in this. If the ramp area is as icy as most other places are right now, then the drivers may well have a case for being "reluctant" to fuel certain aircraft types. Some types require the driver to use a lightweight aluminium stepladder to get up to the fuel connection, and again, doing this with a heavy hose in slippery conditions is not always safe, ice on boots on a cold aluminium ladder step is not a good idea, and add a heavy and not very flexible hose into the mix and you do have a valid health and safety risk.

The other aspect is that in order to meet Ryanair's target of a 25 minute turnround, they would need to be on stand when the aircraft arrives, and that may not be as easy to do with the likely state of the internal roads on the ramp, whatever about large equipment being used to clear runways and taxiways, clearing the internal roads is another matter, as the snow there tends to get much more compacted and packed due to the higher traffic volumes, and there is a lot less space to get clearing machines into, the design of much of the airside roads, parking and the like is (being polite) less than optimal.

To introduce a weather related aspect, the temp here in Ashbourne now is -8.3C.

I spent several years working airside at the airport, and in weather like this, it's no fun, some of the equipment is tricky to move accurately in good conditions, and when it's cold, and icy, and the operator is on a platform 30 Ft up with no cab around the operating position, and the machine is operated by small switches that can't be easily operated with gloved fingers, that can be challenging. Things like baggage tractors are on solid tyres, often with no tread worth talking about, so the intended direction of travel and the actual direction of travel can be 2 very different things, and I saw more than a few accidents with baggage trolley trains where they could not grip or steer on the entrance slope to the inbound baggage hall, which resulted in runaways or crashes.

So, while Ryanair may be using this as a publicity factor, there may well be very valid reasons for the situation. The other possibility is that SIPTU have decided that this is a good time to try and force a point, there are times when SIPTU call the shots at the airport, and there's very little that the DAA or the fuel companies can do about the strength of the unions.

Steve

thetonynator

That sounds more like ryanair trying to lay more blame on the DAA instead of the weather.

lucy2010

Could I possibly get a link to cancellations site please for the airport - the folks are supposidly off to new york in a few hours & I aint driving all the way in those poxy conditions to be told computer says NO !:mad:

lord lucan

I think Thetonaytor hit the nail on the head. The ramp was in a bad way,the snow was accumulating as quick as it was being cleared. Smacks of Ryanair trying to have a pop at the DAA. I heard no reports of tankers refusing to go out.

This may give you an idea of what the ramp looked like today mid-afternoon at EIDW.

lord lucan

lucy2010 wrote: »

Could I possibly get a link to cancellations site please for the airport - the folks are supposidly off to new york in a few hours & I aint driving all the way in those poxy conditions to be told computer says NO !:mad:

This is the live departures list for DUB. It's updated constantly so you just have to refresh the page.

http://flights.dublinairport.com/departures.asp

Here's the DAA Twitter,it'll give some warning of possible runway closures and cancellations.

http://twitter.com/dublinairport

delw

@ irish steve,100% agree,worked 6 yrs airside& its only when you work airside do you understand what really goes on but because DAA dont explain to the public what is happening including health&saftey, then can understand why people get so pissed off
edit:good post by the way

Cherrypipp1

Thanks guys. Seriously for the explanations and for not "screaming" at me. I especially liked the Die Hard 2 Reference :-)

I was just at boiling point and I know that Ryanair are the kings of "blame-everyone-else" spin, but my husband and I are commuting at the moment like many others and after getting stuck in the snow and spending the week alone, I am dreading him not being able to get back tonight. It's looking a little more positive though so crossed fingers. Otherwise, expect to see me with my tiki torch and lighter (and battered white vest) out on the tarmac tonight!

trad

There's never an Ice Road Trucker around when you need one.

bobbysands81

Can't believe that some people are actually taking Ryanair at their word - all you need to do is look at the way they name some of the airports they fly to when the city might be 100 miles away.

Ryanair always have an alterior motive for their whingeing, a horrible grubby company.

AfterDusk

bobbysands81 wrote: »

Can't believe that some people are actually taking Ryanair at their word - all you need to do is look at the way they name some of the airports they fly to when the city might be 100 miles away.

Ryanair always have an alterior motive for their whingeing, a horrible grubby company.

:rolleyes:

Ryanair don't "name" airports!! Airport authorities name their airports.

If you saw the state of the ramp around Pier D you'd understand why fueling companies are refusing to fuel aircraft.

RasTa

bobbysands81 wrote: »

Can't believe that some people are actually taking Ryanair at their word - all you need to do is look at the way they name some of the airports they fly to when the city might be 100 miles away.

Ryanair always have an alterior motive for their whingeing, a horrible grubby company.

Who can get me to London for €20 return, I ****ing love them.

Brian CivilEng

They have a week to sort it out or else I'm blowing everyone inside it sky h....sorry, maybe not.