How Hot Is Too Hot For Airline Operations?

Learned to fly on the front range of Colorado, DA is a real deal. Flying in the Rockies is even more exciting!

In my experience non-rev passengers were deferred before revenue cargo.

Took a flight out of Durango in a old 737 once, and believe me we used all of the runway! I much preferred a 757 oh yeah, they don't make those any more!

I use to work in the middle East in the 90's, the ATIS was stuck at 49 dec C, even if the temp was way higher

worked in tower South Lake Tahoe... Sunday afternoons.. "Cessna 123 wind 180 at 20 peak gust 30, density altitude 9000..caution turbulence and downdrafts over the last one third of the runway...cleared for takeoff... there was a crash every 2 weeks that summer

"the airline will seek volunteers to lessen the load" - Ithink an announcement at the gate asking for volunteers to lesson the load so that the plane could be made light enough to fly just might get an enthustiatic response!

Got my mountain flight training flying from the Sacramento area to Reno in the summer in a C-172. Performance was, uh, limited on departure from RNO while heading directly at the looming Sierra Nevada mountains that evening. Getting up to 10,000' from 4,400' took a while.

On my June 21 Delta flight LAS-JFK @11:15 am they asked for volunteers at the gate to lighten the load due to extreme heat. I took the $700 offer for a 3pm flight which was upped to $2000. I got Visa gift cards from the link they sent me.
On the next flight they offered $3000. Passengers jumped up but flight might be late at night or next day so I didn’t take it.

Tires are the problem. Operating out of the Middle East in the summer, the heat requires a higher speed prior to rotating to take-off attitude. There is a maximum tire speed to prevent the tire from failing under hot runways and heavy loads. Once the required aircraft rotation speed meets or exceed the maximum tire speed, the operation comes to a halt unless the weight is reduced (thus a lower speed for aircraft rotation).

Recent trip from KDEN to KCOS on CRJ-200 was delayed because too much fuel was on board on a hot day. Pilot mentioned we could take off but load would be too heavy to land. Taxied to holding area near RWY08 and revved up engines for 15 min to burn off fuel. Naturally we were baking in the A/C.
Question for those smarter than me: I understand the role of weight/balance and DA performance on take off. Pilot's comments were the first I've heard of about heat and fuel load for landing. Is that common? Also, if he could take off why not take a longer route to burn fuel and have a more comfortable cabin temperature. Seems like fuel burn would be higher, passengers more cooler, and shorter delay.

FAA issued a ground stop at PHX in 1990 when the air temperature reached a record 122 degrees Fahrenheit. Officials were concerned about tires on planes bursting due to the extreme heat.

Which is why Korean (KAL) had to reschedule their B777-300ER departure out of KLAS from 2230 to 0130 several years ago! Guess they were tired of requesting opposite direction takeoff to the runway configuration given and experiencing minimum 1 hour delays for several months…….

Common sense. Performance tables to be checked for airport elevation, temperature. Cargo makes more money than people. Non revenue first to go. Pilots not conservative on taxi technique to runway. Could exceed 300 degrees on AB-330. Takeoff now delayed. Remember Cusco in the summer. B-727 squealing brakes. That airline didn’t consult tables.safety is our priority. Not money or leaving on time.

My airline had a max temperature limit of 122 deg F.