What problems will Bristol Airport be having this morning?published at 11:37 Greenwich Mean Time
Ian Fergusson
BBC weather forecaster
Image source, FlightRadar24The departures board for Bristol Airport this morning (here via Flight Radar 24) tells its own story of Storm Darragh’s impact on civil aviation today.
Winds there have gusted to 62mph, with take-offs and landings outside safe operational limits so far. Once we see winds broadly fall to 40 knot (46mph) gusts and below, hopefully some operators can get going.
However, it’ll stay windy all day, with crosswind at Bristol Airport becoming more of a feature.
Very strong winds also thwart safe ground operations at airports.
This includes limits on open aircraft doors – especially cargo doors – being exposed to strong gusts; to certain sensitivities of starting and running jet engines, including in crosswind; to risks of emergency slides blowing over a fuselage if deployed in emergency; and more generally to the use of airport vehicles used to support arrivals and departures.
So despite inevitable frustration for passengers, the current delays and disruption are absolutely all about safety.