We are going to be on that flight!
I WARN YOU
WE ARE GOING TO BE ON THE FLIGHT!
Because we were told by your own people
that we were OK
So, you take responsibility
and you get us on that flight! - Unfortuna...
THAT IS NO "UNFORTUNATE"!
YOU ARE UNFORTUNATE!
That's an angry passanger right there!
We've all been there, and I admit, it's a nuisance - airplane delays.
Today we're gonna be looking at five reasons why airplanes are delayed,
and especially why these so-called "slots" cause these ridiculous delays.
Also, why do pilots let their passangers sit and wait onboard on the plane
and don't take off,
and what's that got to do with highway traffic?
So, let's NOT delay this video, and let's get started!
[Music] [ATC] [Jet engine]
I assume many of you have been there - you're waiting at the gate,
and the lady at the desk makes an announcement saying
that your flight is being delayed due to technical reasons.
So possible reason number 5
is "technical problems".
Now, I know that many passangers think that the pilots come up with
some technical malfunction, although the delay is caused by other nature.
If a pilot states it's a technical issue, trust me, there is a technical issue.
Often the problem is minor, but could eventually have an impact on the flight.
I'm talking as small as a little light bulb that's broken in the cockpit,
and the plane is going nowhere.
I personally had to switch to another plane after encountering a bird strike
on the previous flight and the engine had to go through a thorough investigation.
Now picture 180 passangers boarding and deboarding in 30 minutes -
happy faces [laughes]
But by the way, I'll take any delay due to a technical failure,
or would you set off in your car with a loose tire?
Reason number 4: crew member arriving late to the plane.
It's a rare case, but sometimes the crew and passangers
have to wait for a missing crew member.
Now, don't get the image that the late crew member just had
a lay-in and arrives late to work.
Most likely, the colleague was called out of stand-by
as one of the other crew members called in sick just prior check-in.
And most stand-by duties demand that you have one hour to get ready,
drive to the airport, go through security, and get taken to the NOW delayed plane.
So sarcastingly applauding the crew member onto the plane isn't cool at all,
as he or she most likely risked their life driving like a maniac over the highway
to be there on time just for YOU.
So don't do that.
Reason number 3: the late or vanished passanger.
One of the airport's TOTAL misteries -
a checked in passanger who's unable to find his boarding gate,
his luggage obviously made it onto the plane,
but he has vanished somewhere inbetween.
He even gets the luxury of hearing his name
being called out over the terminal PA system.
Now, as the passanger, or at least his luggage,
now creates a potential security threat to all other passangers onboard,
the loading crew has to unload all pieces of baggage to find his or her suitcase.
That will cost time, obviously, and just as the luggage is found, he shows up.
Well, we often set off then without his luggage,
just to teach him a lesson [laughs].
Reason number 2: going on strike!
If you live in Europe, you've all been impacted by a country,
which has air traffic controllers who just LOVE to go on strike at least once a year
and disrupt the entire European airspace.
Now, not to mention any names, but they're taking their country's motto
a little TOO serious.
And their southerly neighbours aren't any much better,
so, sorry guys, but you make WAY too much money to go on strike!
Now, even worse, if your airline goes on strike,
leaving you stuck at your departure airport for days [!] if you're unlucky.
Now, during the research for this video, I wasn't surprised that famous German airline is the record holder in strike days.
Well, I'm a pilot, and my colleagues had good reason enough to go on strike,
so good for them.
Especially the airline with the lady playing the harp on their tailfin,
they have every reason to go on strike, believe me, well done, boys.
Also, very effective in causing delays are airport ground staff strikes.
Airports always promote themselves as "safe havens",
but the first thing they'll cut is the salary of the security staff.
Would you like to get shouted at passangers because you have to search their luggage,
but you're only being payed at minimum wage?
I HIGHLY doubt that.
So please, do me a favour and approach these people with the necessary respect
instead of complaining their job is useless.
And the number 1 reason for delays
are slots.
Now, I'm sure you might have heard a pilot say
"Ladies and gentelmen, I am very sorry to tell you,
but we've just received a slot time which starts in two hours,
but we're hoping to get released a little earlier,
as we've just sent a "ready" message."
So what does all that mean?
Picture a four-lane highway narrowed down to one lane due to roadworks.
Now, okay, everyone pictures this, sad reality, unfortunately.
Now, let's say the sky is also a four-lane highway
and the airport is the roadworks with literally one lane to land on.
Now the only difference to the highway example
is that the air traffic controllers in airports want to avoid
congested traffic in the sky prior to that one lane runway.
Because no plane carries hours and hours of fuel
to wait in the sky for their landing clearance.
Now, every airliner has to file a flight plan
stating the flight level they want to fly, aircraft type, routing, etc.,
but more importantly, the flight time and speed.
Now, the air traffic controllers at Eurocontrol, for example,
check how many planes approach an airport at a certain time of day, and compare that
to its maximum capacity the airport can handle.
But, it's not just the airport. They also have to consider
how many planes fly through or within a control sector
to not overload the controller, because overloading a controller
by giving him or her too many aircraft at once is just way too risky.
Now, the controller MIGHT split it into two sectors
and share the work with another controller,
but, if that is getting out of hand as well,
Eurocontrol will send out [a] so-called CTOT -
a calculated take-off time,
or better known as "slot times".
Now, the purpose of a CTOT, or a slot,
gives the controller a future prediction of how many planes he can expect
expect in his sector at a certain time, and safely guide the planes onto that one lane,
or ILS, without having to put them on holding.
So our highway example would then look like this:
you have all the space, but you'll be using up only one lane,
as every car, or plane, sets off at a predetermined take-off time,
resulting in a smoother flow of traffic.
Now, there are various types of slots.
Most common are the "weather" slots.
Now, let's say you're sitting at New York JFK airport,
wanting to fly to Washington D.C.,
and a massive thunderstorm is sitting over the White House.
Now, the controller most likely will give you a "weather" slot, 'cause,
why would he let you take off already knowing
that you'll be holding somewhere north of Washington before the thunderstorm clears?
Same goes for aiports which have low visibility procedures in progress -
everything works at a slower pace, and the handling capacity is much lower.
Then there are "flow managment" slots.
That, to my knowledge,
means that air traffic controller hasn't got enough controllers.
This happened to me numerous times on weekends flying into western parts of Germany.
Now, keep in mind:
an aircraft is taking off or entering European airspace every 3 seconds,
so there is a constant need [of] air traffic controllers.
Then there are "airport" slots.
If you fly to the islands of Greece, for example,
some airports only have two 2 to 3 parking spots,
so air traffic coordinates your departure and arrival time
that you don't have to wait at the destination airport
until your parking slot clears.
And as a pilot, you can anticipate its slot time because sometimes
you get a clearance to drastically reduce your speed during cruise
and then you know that your destination airport is reaching its maximum capacity
or is experiencing some discrepancies, like runway closures due to snow removal
or of similar nature.
Now, the other word[s] the pilot mentioned are
"We've sent out a 'ready message'."
So what does that mean?
Now, first of all, you would only hear a pilot say that
once all passangers are onboard, and then you wait and wait.
But why does the pilot board all passangers
if he already knows that we're not gonna be taking off any time soon?
Well, he doesn't really know how lond he's gonna be waiting for his start-up clearance
because by sending out a "ready" message, he's letting the controller know
that he and his plane are ready to take off at ANY time
before the actual slot time, meaning if there is any improvement,
maybe in weather or overall traffic,
the controller would then contact the pilots
and give them an earlier departure time by saying
"AirJoe 125, slot has been cancelled, start-up approved,
be airborne withing the next 15 minutes."
So, therefore, the pilots request all passangers to be onboard,
because there's no way to board a plane in under 15 minutes
with passangers like this:
So please, do yourself a favour, and DON'T get furious
with the cabin crew members or pilots -
trust me when I say they want to get airborne as much as you do,
but still passangers always find some reason to complain, one way or another.
If they're delayed, they complain, if it's turbulent, they complain,
but the pilots and air traffic controllers are actually preventing them
a "near-death" experience
with a "bad weather" slot doesn't strike their mind at all.
And one thing I have learned of being in this industry for over ten years now,
do never, ever underestimate the weather.
That's it for today, thank you very much for your time!
To become my wingman, hit that subscribe button right there,
and the notification bell, so you won't miss upcoming videos,
and don't forget, a good pilot is always learning!
See you next week, all the best,
your Captain Joe!
[Music]
[Music] [Subtitles transcribed by Iliyan Angelov]