Short Final: Southbound

With the easing of pandemic travel restrictions commercial flights have increased, seemingly often with crews not necessarily familiar with local procedures. Case in point: Delta 575, from Albany, NY, to…

With the easing of pandemic travel restrictions commercial flights have increased, seemingly often with crews not necessarily familiar with local procedures. Case in point: Delta 575, from Albany, NY, to Atlanta, departing Runway 19 last June:

DL 575: “Albany Departure, Delta 575 climbing through 1500, runway heading."

Albany Departure: “Delta 575, turn right heading 340, climb one zero, ten, thousand.”

DL 575 (now in a heavy southern drawl): “Albany, are you aware that Atlanta is south of here?”

Albany (without skipping a beat in an Upstate NY voice, though possibly just a bit more clipped than normal): "575, we have Center restrictions due to inbounds from Europe descending over the top to New York, an MVA of 10 to the south due to mountains, and Boston inbounds crossing from the west, so departures get an initial routing to the northwest before turning on course.”

There was a pause, and then:

DL 575 (quietly, little inflection): “Ohhh, Okay.”

Daniel Spitzer

Montgomery, NY