Vacation in danger: why is the heat wave canceling flights?

The heat wave cancels flights: what can be done?

(Nitzan Sadan)

Hello, this is the captain; It is impossible to ignore the recent heat waves that are sweeping the entire world and disrupting life. Here in Israel, walking on the street has become a very dubious pleasure and in Europe people simply die of heat. Airplanes are also affected by this fiery nightmare, in a way that can easily cancel your vacation – and today we will understand how and why.

For the previous “Captain” series:

Before we continue, I want to clarify something very important: global warming is not a myth of the liberal left trying to weaken the economic right, not a theory that has been disproved, not a distant prophecy of wrath and not a trailer for the comeback of Captain Planet. The summers become longer and hotter, the winters drier, and this planet is simply cooking.

Captain global warming and the climate crisis

Where did this hot wave come from? Weather is created from the relationship between air, heat and water. Originally it was a balanced system, and this is the reason, for example, that every 365 consecutive days there is only one winter.

Then we came and broke this balance: we held on to polluting energy and let factories emit greenhouse gases. These caused heat to come in as usual but more of it was trapped in the atmosphere and the whole thing quickly heated up.

When it is too hot, the natural air currents of the planet begin to fake: the jet stream takes more time to divert and disperse warm air and sometimes even traps it over land areas – with an emphasis on Europe and North America (the jet stream and similar ones will be presented in depth in their own special column).

The heat accumulates and, for example, ignites huge fires and scorches Great Britain, France and Greece. Instead of dissipating within days, the heat wave can last even weeks, and year by year the risk of a longer and hot wave increases.

We did it to ourselves when we looked each time a year ahead and not a decade ahead. And here, the decades are over and humanity is in the process of trying to reduce damages; Too late to avoid them altogether. Therefore, many industries will be forced to function in a much hotter environment, among them the aviation industry, and the effects can be seen and felt right now.

It is said that people easily ignore global warming until it starts affecting their lives in a direct way – and one of the most direct is killing their vacation.

And easily: heat waves cancel flights due to a combination of economic and physical reasons. The warming can come in the form of dry heat or in the form of humidity, and both cases can impair the aircraft’s ability to lift off the runway.

The plane rises thanks to a forward movement that pushes air around its wings, creating an area of high air pressure below them. When the air is very hot and humid, its composition changes: it has more water vapor in relation to its other components – oxygen and nitrogen; And water simply weighs less than the rest. And so it is more difficult to generate pressure to lift the plane.

So to take off, the plane will have to run more on the runway, and at a greater speed. This is an increase in power which means burning a lot more fuel to get off the ground.

The humid air also puts a load on the engine: it has more liquid and less oxygen, so it ignites less well in the combustion chamber. The result: an engine that works less efficiently. In winter it’s not a big deal: cold air is inherently richer and less difficult to generate lift.

When the air is hot and dry it is more comfortable to take off, but without moisture clouds do not form and the warming of the ground may be extreme and faster. It is important to remember that too hot air tends to be thin by nature; The movement of molecules is faster at high temperature so there are fewer of them in a given place. This means that it is also more difficult to produce high pressure and lift, and there is also less resistance from the environment to the thrust of the engines.

After all, every engine – whether it turns a propeller or emits a jet stream – relies on the production of reverse thrust. If the air is thin there is less resistance to this impulse and what did we get? Paul gas in neutral and air that does not go up in the air. What will the pilot do, drive you abroad?

So here too you have to generate much more thrust through burning much more fuel and a longer takeoff run. And don’t forget that the effect doesn’t end when you take off: hot air in the landing area will make it difficult to slow down and descend safely.

This means that for the airline, flying in a heat wave will be much more expensive even though the ticket price you paid remains the same. In addition, not every airport allows a long enough take-off run at all; Often the route is too short. And to this is added a technical safety limit – every plane has a maximum take-off speed defined for it, and it must not be exceeded even if all the passengers really, really want to. In short – either you can’t fly, or it doesn’t pay to fly.

Airlines have three ways to deal with this hot challenge, and you hate all three. The first is to postpone the flight until the afternoon hours, when the air will cool down a bit and the flight will pay off for the company.

You will receive a delay message “for technical reasons beyond our control” or a similar explanation, you will be stuck in the field for another four-five hours and at the counter they will promise you an upgrade to Economy Plus on the return flight or some other small compensation.

The second is to reduce the weight of the plane. If it is lighter, it will have less difficulty lifting and will be able to sail while burning less fuel. And this is where the trouble begins for passengers: an airline that chose to take off on time will simply transfer your luggage to the next flight.

This is the most convenient option for the company: the passengers will receive their luggage a few hours late, and it will be possible to compensate them with points and miles in the “frequent flyer” programs – which will also force them to fly again with the same company in the future.

Suitcase luggage airport flight moving film

The third solution is to offer you to give up your seat in favor of a later flight. If enough passengers give up the flight, the plane will be lighter and the flight economical. And yet, it happens a lot that there are not enough waivers: dozens of flights are canceled in a country experiencing a heat wave.

All these are very temporary solutions: soon the warming will create heat waves of 50 degrees as standard and tricks like moving passengers and flights will not be able to make a significant difference. Infrastructural solutions such as longer runways will also not work everywhere. Take for example the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration routes: where can they be extended, into Moshav Bnei Atarot? Into Route 1? Nahal Shapirim?

It is possible that a technological solution will come in the future, in the form of a breakthrough in materials engineering that will allow the construction of lighter airplanes, or extremely powerful and efficient engines. The point is that this future could be in two years or in twenty years. Although we are in an era of innovation and entrepreneurship, and relatively young companies like Tesla can quickly shake up old industries, in the field of aviation it works differently.

So what’s going to happen? Very simple: the aviation industry will begin to adapt to the extreme effects of the climate crisis, and this will cost it a huge fortune. Even an improvisation like painting the track white, which captures less heat and somewhat slows down the heating of the air above it, will come at a price of many millions. So in order to meet the demand for flights, the companies will have to invest more fuel in each flight, and the increased costs are going to be rolled into ticket prices.

So what can be done in the meantime? Prepare for disruptions and malfunctions. For example, if you are traveling to see Chelsea play against Arsenal or Iron Maiden in concert, plan to land two or three days before the event. This makes it less likely that a flight delay or postponement will ruin your trip. When you take out travel insurance, choose one that includes a clause of cancellation for any reason – so that your heartache is not accompanied by financial damage. And in any case, be mentally prepared for a potential mess: keep in mind that in this heat, a spontaneous weekend in Rome can easily include a spontaneous run after luggage and customer service representatives. Pleasant flight!

Vacation in danger: why is the heat wave canceling flights?

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