Day 2

OK, so this is a day two, just not the same day day two when I started this. I figured this was more about information and things that might be of interest. I just had an even happen that I would imagine some might wonder just what goes on up front during problems.
We came out of the hotel in Waco Texas (yes we overnight in Waco, and 18 min flight from dfw) and everything appeared to be just another Texas summer day. The sky was partly cloudy, typical fair weather cumulus clouds, normal for this time of year. Once at the airport we work our way to the gate. Luckily some of the smaller out stations we bypass security. Honestly it still amazes me we (the flight crew) have to go through security, but that is another (hot) topic altogether. We get our paper work and board the plane. Stow our bags, and start making our "nest" in the cockpit. Once the kitbag is in its place, headset hooked up and charts and note paper in place you begin setting the plane up for pre flight. I have to get the atis, and clearance and then usually about that time head back out side to perform the preflight inspection. Since this is an early afternoon flight the plane had just arrived from DFW. Back inside I finish up my preflight duties just in time to hear over the radio there is a ground stop in Dallas. A ground stop? now I'm confused. After a little checking I find out there are storms over DFW. At least and hour before the next update. Then another hour. Now we hear an AA MD80 is on approach to Waco, diverting to refuel and wait out the weather. A short time later a couple Eagles join us. Then another, which had been en route from Mexico, unfortunately for them there is no customs there. They are all stuck on the plane! There is some chatter on the radios. Someof the passengers on the MD80 want off the plane. They actually made a good decision, and rented a car and drove the rest of the way.
Later the Captain I was with started talking about being hungry. He decided he wanted to order a pizza. About the same time another crew chimed in on the radio and was asking for phone number to a local pizza place. So yes, very important stuff being discussed. Just before we ordered we got word that the ground stop was about to be lifted. I quickly suggested we load the passengers up and make sure we are one of the first to take off. I let the ground personnel know and we very quickly loaded and ready to go. It worked out well, we were one of the first planes off the ground. we're now 3 hours late.
Finally off, climbing out we can see there is still a lot of weather around. The flight was a little bumpy but we managed to get around most of the bad stuff. Finally, after 3 hours on the ground and 40 min in the air we are on the ground in DFW. Now the gates are just a short taxi away, we're almost there...then we get the word. RAMP CLOSED! ugh. We cannot pull into the gate when the ramp is closed.
You may have heard this before. most large airports have a rule, if there is ligting within 5 miles of an airport they close the ramp. this is to protect the ground worker. We are given instruction to taxi to and hold at one of the holding locations of the airport. Again, luckily we are up front, so when the ramp opens we should be one of the first cleared in. About 20 minutes later ramp opens, here we go. we make it to our gate, we're 150 away from the bridge, but there are no rampers. Then it happens, a flash of lightning...no, No again. Then we hear it over the radio, ramp closed, again. so now we wait, again. more time goes by finally it opens we quickly get to the gate and let these poor people off. so hour "20 min" flight took two hours, gate to gate. Today we fly two legs, and you can imagine we are obviously late for our next flight to Springfield MO. We rush to the next gate to find that our plane isn't even here yet. As a matter of fact, it shows it hasn't even taken off.
Yes, when it rains it pours, and the day isn't even half over.
The ramp opens and closes a couple more times, finally our plane shows up and we make a dash for the plane, in hopes of getting out before it closes again. No such luck, it closes just as soon as we finish out prefilght duties and just prior to boarding.
the ramp stays closed for a while, but then opens again, we talk about boarding, I suggest we do so quickly, and just about the time we finish boarding, yes ramp closed! I know it might seem a little compassionate trying to get people on and there is a chance we may not go any where, but then you wouldn't be at the airport if you were not trying to get somewhere. This whole time we're looking at our radars on our phone and we are seeing this weather is about to move off, but then we hear ops calling everyone asking if the have people on board. If they say yes they say take'em off. We hear this one after another. They never get to our number, but the Captain say, What do you think, should we deplane? We both pull out our phones, we both look and I say that this last cell will be gone (outside the 5 mile area) in about 5 minutes or less, let keep them on. Not 2 minutes later we hear Ramp open! My finger is waiting next to the push to talk button, as soon as they stop talking I make my request for fuel. Again, being ready at the right time helped us get out quickly. Had we had to re board it would have taken longer. So now we're off, very late to SGF.
We get into the hotel very late and rush to bed, hoping our next day wont be messed with to bad.