Iberia Airlines Airbus A340-300 landing at T.F. Green Airport (KPVD), Warwick, RI - 6/1/2011

[pdutube]

Neat video. Getting a lightly loaded A340 into runway 23 is not hard. Getting a fully loaded A340 (or other large jet) out of PVD, especially on a warm day, is unsafe.

[jetblueilikeful]

Man this is awesome I live real close to Green and I didnt see this or heard about this until July

[randhuck]

#5: Not only Kevin Dillon, but expert pilots, the FAA, and other entities have all agreed that this airport will benefit from an expansion. This isn't some conspiracy or personal vendetta against the citizens of Warwick, it's simply a fact. I think the FAA should definitely look at all of the concerns and chances are, there are houses that NEED to be reinforced or razed (and reimbursed to the homeowners) in order to be up to code.

[randhuck]

...and they should be doing everything it can to negotiate and aid whoever lives near the airport. THAT I agree with... but it doesn't mean the whole expansion project is moot.

#4: However, this state still has an unemployment rate of over 10%, and part of it is a direct result of people who somehow think they can get by without "evil businesses" while electing even more corrupt politicians to use their tax dollars to fund their nepotistic projects.

[randhuck]

#1: I'm not as much pro-business as much as I am pro-jobs. Like it or not, business generates jobs.

#2: I told you the flight DID return to Spain, but was EMPTY. When the entire soccer team returned to Spain, the airplane didn't come back to PVD, but to BOS. Yes, empty A340s can make it to Europe from PVD, but they're a tad useless and not economical, are they?

#3: Despite all of these things I do sympathize with your situation and I DO think the way RIAC is handling this is insensitive...

[danpend]

It's always nice to see the big boys come to smaller airports, ie, KLEX, Lexington, Ky. With only 7,000 we are in the same boat as KPVD but we do get an occasional wide-body here for charters or diversions from KSDF or KCVG. Katitta had a 747 diversion here back in June from KCVG. Short distance, and light load made his stopped relativley easy. C5's and AF1 have come to visit as well. So, light loads and short distances isn't always a problem for short fields. Enjoy the big boys while you can.

[omnia762]

was this a scheduled flight ? or was it a diversion from KJFK or KBOS?

[laurensexy93]

@omnia762 The Spanish football team had a game against USA, so this was a unique flight to take the team!

[cduluk]

Ah that's what i figured... How did you know the A340 was coming, do you work at T.F. Green? I see you're near the Fedex ramp, any chance you've gotten any clips of the 727 that visits pretty much every day? My favorite plane of all time...

[TheCeejus]

@cduluk I work for Northstar Aviation doing the UPS operation. Yeah, FedEx is basically right next to us. I could get videos of that, but part of the reason I uploaded this was to support my argument that our runway is already large enough to accommodate the largest planes without the need of expansion. I live in the neighborhood right behind the Airport Fire Station, where the expansion would have a very negative impact on us unless we are bought out like the rest were.

[randhuck]

@TheCeejus The airport can support an A340 with enough fuel for Madrid when it's EMPTY. When it departed later in the day back for Madrid, it was the crewmembers and nothing else. The weather was also ideal for a safe takeoff on a short runway. Intl airlines will not ever consider PVD until they can be sure they can support a full plane of passengers on a wet/icy runway. The runway we have now does not meet those requirements.

[RELangseth]

runway weight restriction is a big issue at Green. Runway 5-23 has the lowest weight numbers for any medium hub airport that I can find. Albany County, a small hub, has significantly higher runway weight numbers as has Bradley, Manchester, and even Burlington VT. RIAC misclassified the 767-300 as a plane with dual quad landing gear to overcome this problem. Uh, they did not get away with this deception. Richard Langseth

[TheCeejus]

@RELangseth Even if they did feel the need to expand the runway, the issue here is how RIAC is going about it. They are being careless about the negative impacts the proposed expansion is going to have on the remaining half of my neighborhood. Under the current plans, the remaining half of my small neighborhood in front of Warwick Pond will suffer from more noise pollution, pond contamination, and above all else, plummeting house values.

[TheCeejus]

@RELangseth And further more, there's already evidence that this expansion is going to lose Rhode Island a substantial amount of money in the long run. It will most likely prove to be a complete failure just like the first airport expansion back in the 90's. Even if we did become international, we still don't have sufficient terminal space for widebody aircraft. Not to even mention PVD isn't attractive at all financially as a destination. We are already losing flights as it is right now.

[randhuck]

@TheCeejus It never *will* be a financially attractive destination without international service. It's a chicken-egg problem. And the 90s was a complete failure? What planet are you from? The airport had been upgraded from a small-hub to a medium-hub and saw a huge boom from Southwest as a direct result of the expansion! It's just a shame that PVD, just like every other airport its size, started to struggle after 9/11 and the economic hits afterwards.

[TheCeejus]

@randhuck And what makes you assume this airport is losing flights because it's not an international airport? It's losing domestic flights. A lot of *educated* individuals are already raising serious doubts that the proposed expansion will have the desired results. And yes, I DID see Iberia take back off to Spain as a matter of fact. It made it back without a full fuel load (unless it indeed have a full fuel load when it took off and the stories about it being unable to are lies) no problem.

[TheCeejus]

@randhuck right. And there ARE scientific studies that are currently being done that are showing that the threat of pollution is there, and my neighborhood has already been successful in causing Kevin Dillon to have to spend more out of his 150 million dollar federal government grant to get his own studies done. We are going to continue to fight against this morally incorrect expansion whether people like you like it or not, because we refuse to be victimized like that by Corporate Fat Cats

[TheCeejus]

@TheCeejus like Kevin Dillon.

[TheCeejus]

@randhuck That's the excuse going around at the moment. Let me ask you something though. When on earth is an Airbus A340 with a full load of fuel going to land at PVD? What is it, going to fly in from BOS? I don't think so. And they've taken off with plenty of fuel on board also. The C5 Galaxy didn't even use half of it for takeoff, and Air Force 1 has never had any problems.

[randhuck]

@TheCeejus I don't know what your point is. It doesn't matter if it can *land* at PVD. Planes need far less runway to land, that's a given. You still can't take off with a full load of passengers. Case in point: You never saw the Spanish team *take off* from PVD after the game, did you? They took off empty after they dropped the team off before the game. AF1 has only taken off once from TF Green, and it was back to Washington DC where they needed a fraction of the fuel 747s need on longer trips.

[TheCeejus]

@randhuck It's a shame? I'm getting tired of you're selfish, insensitive, pro-business opinions already. You're talking to someone who is going to be effected in a very negative way by this expansion, and it's not right in the least bit. First of all, Kevin Dillon, RIAC CEO is the second highest paid airport CEO in the country, behind only the CEO of LAX. Meanwhile, 28 RIAC workers got laid off while he collected more money than he's ever made while TF is losing flights left and right.

[TheCeejus]

@randhuck And let's say theoretically speaking you are right, and the expansion is somehow a huge success -- that doesn't make it right for Kevin Dillon and his RIAC goonies to propose things such as developing hangars directly next to our homes after he specifically bought half the neighborhood to create a noise buffer zone. It doesn't make it right for him to propose digging up Native American burial grounds and moving them to make room for his dinky little "expansion", and it doesn't make it

[TheCeejus]

@randhuck right for him to completely disregard a small number of homes that he decided not to buy in order to save a few bucks; homes that are going to be made to suffer in numerous ways by this expansion -- noise pollution, air pollution, increased contamination of Warwick Pond, and above all else, property values plummeting in an already battered economy. We don't *care* what RIAC has the freedom to do -- just because you have the legal freedom to do something doesn't automatically make it

[TheCeejus]

@randhuck right for him to completely disregard a small number of homes that he decided not to buy in order to save a few bucks; homes that are going to be made to suffer in numerous ways by this expansion -- noise pollution, air pollution, increased contamination of Warwick Pond, and above all else, property values plummeting in an already battered economy. We don't care what RIAC has the freedom to do -- just because you have the legal freedom to do something doesn't automatically make it

[cduluk]

OH MY GOD!

I've been tracking this thing all day! I live in RI (Smithfield) and noticed this A340 on flightaware on its way here but thought it must be a mistake.

I posted a thread on the flightaware forum trying to figure out WHY it was coming tonight... Do you have any idea who was aboard?

I know there's a big men's soccer match in foxboro on the 4th, could this be the soccer team coming from Spain??

It was flight IBE 2940 (from MAD to PVD) and IBE 2941 (from PVD to MAD)

[TheCeejus]

@cduluk Yeah, it was the soccer team.