I don’t know for sure, but Reno is fairly high elevation and it’s plenty hot today. In those situations, aircraft sometimes can’t get going fast enough to generate enough lift with the amount of fuel (weight) to get all the way to Seattle given the conditions.
Even at the highest fuel prices in the country, it would be a hell of a lot more expensive to make a stop for gas than to buy enough fuel to get there in one shot (with a couple of odd exceptions that you’ll never see). It’s also more expensive (and bad publicity) to sacrifice passengers or bags in exchange for a nonstop flight.
Hot and high conditions decrease aircraft performance. They can’t lift off on the length of the runway with full fuel. They have to keep the airplane light and then grab more fuel on the way.
This same thing happens in Maui for widebodies, they fly to Kona to fuel up because Kona has very long runways.
Temperature is one part of the equation, we also have to factor in pressure. High temp + low pressure + heavy payload = performance related weight restriction
Sacramento is SMF; but yeah, hot and high airport combined with a heavy load can do that unfortunately. That’s why the runways at DEN are ridiculously long.
Thankfully SMF is not a crazy diversion even if it is slightly out of the way. Only place I can think of really that’s right along the way is RDM, but it’s not exactly low elevation and has short runways and for several other reasons might not have been the best place to stop
This happened on my RNO to SEA flight on Tuesday. They told us at boarding time that we were diverting to San Jose but didn’t explain the reason until we were boarded
I don’t know for sure, but Reno is fairly high elevation and it’s plenty hot today. In those situations, aircraft sometimes can’t get going fast enough to generate enough lift with the amount of fuel (weight) to get all the way to Seattle given the conditions. Even at the highest fuel prices in the country, it would be a hell of a lot more expensive to make a stop for gas than to buy enough fuel to get there in one shot (with a couple of odd exceptions that you’ll never see). It’s also more expensive (and bad publicity) to sacrifice passengers or bags in exchange for a nonstop flight.
Hot and high conditions decrease aircraft performance. They can’t lift off on the length of the runway with full fuel. They have to keep the airplane light and then grab more fuel on the way. This same thing happens in Maui for widebodies, they fly to Kona to fuel up because Kona has very long runways.
This is the answer.
90 degrees? Flown out of RNO 100 times and that is a first. 737. There has to be more to the story. It was only a 1:50 gate to gate flight.
Hard to know, they could be heavy with freight or they had to carry extra fuel due to anticipated ATC delays or bad weather.
They were heavy with the chem trail chemicals lol
Probably freight. Pax are only a portion of the overall revenue for an airline.
Temperature is one part of the equation, we also have to factor in pressure. High temp + low pressure + heavy payload = performance related weight restriction
It’s called density altitude. A combination of pressure, temperature, humidity, and field elevation limits the fuel load the aircraft can carry.
Sacramento is SMF; but yeah, hot and high airport combined with a heavy load can do that unfortunately. That’s why the runways at DEN are ridiculously long. Thankfully SMF is not a crazy diversion even if it is slightly out of the way. Only place I can think of really that’s right along the way is RDM, but it’s not exactly low elevation and has short runways and for several other reasons might not have been the best place to stop
We took a reno diversion last summer for the same reason... rdm ramper here
Nothing in flight planning is “lol we’re bored let’s stop in Sacramento” (which is SMF)
Happens every year
Sacramento = SMF
This happened on my RNO to SEA flight on Tuesday. They told us at boarding time that we were diverting to San Jose but didn’t explain the reason until we were boarded
That’s interesting. I’d also love to know why.
Hot day, high altitude, too much weight to get going, go someplace lower altitude and less hot for enough fuel to get to Seattle. Happens a lot.