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Moosemedic
Member
Why DIA?
Does anyone (pilots out there) have any idea why this plane didn't return to KAPA?
Why fly up to DIA for a belly landing?
Is it just better Crash Fire Rescue? South Metro does a great job covering one of the (if not THE) busiest General Aviation Airport.
Does anyone (pilots out there) have any idea why this plane didn't return to KAPA?
Why fly up to DIA for a belly landing?
Is it just better Crash Fire Rescue? South Metro does a great job covering one of the (if not THE) busiest General Aviation Airport.
Spitfire8520
I might be completely clueless! =)
I'm not a pilot, but I have some thoughts on why KDEN would be better than KAPA.
South Metro is an excellent department has a great crash rescue response, but DFD provides a much greater amount of crash resources available. I think that at this current time, South Metro only has 2 dedicated ARFF units (Red 1 & 2) and 1 ARFF Engine (Engine 44). Red 1 is South Metro's only full sized ARFF unit and I believe that only the personnel stationed at Station 35 and Station 44 get a large amount of ARFF training. Outside of that, the resources responding to Centennial would be likely regular engine companies from other stations. Denver has 7 full sized ARFF crash units (among others support units) with all personnel on duty that are constantly trained on ARFF and a Chief who also specializes in ARFF. Just looking at the difference in number of emergency resources would make DIA a very appealing place in the event of an emergency (better safe than sorry).
As for other reasons, Centennial's longest runway is 17L/35R (10,000 ft) while DIA's longest runway is 16R/34L (16,000 ft). The plane landed on 34L, so they ended up having more than a mile of safety margin to land and slow the plane.
South Metro is an excellent department has a great crash rescue response, but DFD provides a much greater amount of crash resources available. I think that at this current time, South Metro only has 2 dedicated ARFF units (Red 1 & 2) and 1 ARFF Engine (Engine 44). Red 1 is South Metro's only full sized ARFF unit and I believe that only the personnel stationed at Station 35 and Station 44 get a large amount of ARFF training. Outside of that, the resources responding to Centennial would be likely regular engine companies from other stations. Denver has 7 full sized ARFF crash units (among others support units) with all personnel on duty that are constantly trained on ARFF and a Chief who also specializes in ARFF. Just looking at the difference in number of emergency resources would make DIA a very appealing place in the event of an emergency (better safe than sorry).
As for other reasons, Centennial's longest runway is 17L/35R (10,000 ft) while DIA's longest runway is 16R/34L (16,000 ft). The plane landed on 34L, so they ended up having more than a mile of safety margin to land and slow the plane.
soundchaser
Member
Flight track of N694ES
In looking at the flight track, the pilot did initially return to KAPA. It looks like he flew over the runway to give the controllers in the tower a look at the aircraft. The controllers probably made the decision to belly land at DIA. You can see that hours were spent flying in circles while they figured out what to do and to burn off some fuel. Total flight time was 4 hours, 18 minutes. A lot of it spent north of Greeley.
Looks like a great job by everybody involved.
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