Is the flight on time?

    As we get closer to Christmas and New Year’s, many of us will be traveling by air. If we are not traveling ourselves we will be picking up friends and/or family at the airport. It is during this time that accurate and current flight information is very valuable.     The dispatching of aircraft is very complex and changes on a moment by moment basis. It involves many different disciplines including aircraft flight crews, FAA air traffic control, weather personnel, airline dispatchers and airport operations personnel. Airport operations are the responsibility of the city of Presque Isle at the Northern Maine Regional Airport.
    The Airport Department is tasked with making the runways, taxiways and ramps open and available for aircraft operations. Once maintenance crews have made these available, it is up to the other decision-makers to determine whether your flight will be arriving or departing on time. We are not necessarily in direct contact with the other decision makers. Therefore, we are not always aware of the current status of your flight. The airline dispatchers, weather personnel and air traffic control are usually located in centralized control facilities throughout the United States. There decisions are not only based on conditions at Presque Isle but factors throughout the system. They work with the aircraft flight crews to make the most informed decision possible.
    You should be aware the airline counter personnel are not part of this decision making process. In other words, the counter people learn of potential changes in the schedule after the decision has already been made. It has been my experience that as soon as they know something, they make a public announcement. Given the inherent unpredictability of the weather, it is impossible to be able to determine when and if a flight will be delayed or cancelled ahead of time.
    So what is the best source of information for the public? There are many different sources of information available. If you are at the airport, airline counter personnel will make an announcement as soon as they know something official. If you are not at the airport, the best source today is the Internet. By going to our Web site www.flypresqueisle.com, you will find a link to the free Web site Flight Arrivals. You can also access this site directly by going to www.flightarrivals.com.
    Flight Arrivals allows you to check the status of every flight coming or departing the Northern Maine Regional Airport. For all US Airways flights into Presque Isle, the airline will be identified on this site as Colgan Air. This site will give you the time of arrival and the status of the flight. Since it takes over an hour for a flight from Boston to Presque Isle, residents of the Central Aroostook area can even wait until it shows as “in flight” before beginning the drive to the airport to pick someone up.
    The US Airways Web site www.usairways.com can be used to check flight status as well. For those without Internet access, US Airways has the following phone number to get flight status updates (800) 428-4322. You simply follow the automated menu and can get the most current information on your flight.
    With all this said, some may be thinking at this point that we have lost the personal touch here at the Northern Maine Regional Airport. As always the airport management office is happy to help when and where we can. However, the office is only open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. So information on early morning and late night flights is not available through our office. Even during normal operating hours, airport management office may not have the most current information on your flight for the reasons discussed earlier.
    Scott Wardwell is Presque Isle’s airport director. He can be reached at 764-2550 or online at scottw@flypresqueisle.com