Almost every day there is an AA flight that takes off in the Westerly direction.. All other flights on the same day take off towards the mountains.. I know that the planes usually take off into the wind.. etc etc.. but there is one AA flight each day (around 3:45pm) that goes the other direction. Just curious.
It does make for great pics taking off over your head!

No, not a rookie pilot. Because the time it takes to taxi down the active runway for a departure using runway 28, they only grant request based on traffic. For flights heading west, it is a more direct departure versus runway 10 and making the turnaround to head west.

Airlines other than AA do the same thing.

Rookie captain?

Thanks
Just curious. I know with a SSE wind, sometimes there are lots of takeoffs in the other direction, but when all the planes take off East (Towards the Mountain) and one departure takes off West, consistently, it got me thinking.
Thanks!

Exactly...

ATC has some control over departures and landings.... It's not like a pilot chooses the runway for takeoff.

Thank God!!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Wink.gif" alt="" />

couple of years ago we took off over the beach on a United flight to EWR. as we were exiting the plane the guy in front of me asked the pilot why as we went past the cockpit. Pilot said we were to heavy to go over the mountain.

But they don't fly over the mountain.

Every plane makes that turn to the right so that the right side sees Simpson Bay and the Pelican.

We departed on AA a week ago last Saturday, flight 2219, push back at 3:33, so possible the same flight you reference, and we departed the 'regular' way.

gary

I have always wanted to take off the 'wrong' way. Hasn't happened yet.

We did it once; it's kinda fun!

The key factor is that the pilots need to plan for what they hope never happens...an engine failure on takeoff after accelerating past the V1 speed. V1 is the speed by which time the decision to continue flight if an engine fails has been made. It can be said that V1 is the "commit to fly" speed. V2 is the speed at which the airplane will climb in the event of an engine failure. It is known as the takeoff safety speed.

In addition, in an engine out emergency you never turn into the dead engine: if the left engine fails you make right turns, if the right engine fails, you make left turns as you position yourself for an emergency landing back on the runway you just left.

With one engine out, the rate of climb is drastically less than with both engines operating so taking off over the ocean is required so that you don't have to fly over rising terrain if the "wrong" engine fails. That decision is driven by the weight of the aircraft on that particular takeoff and is calculated before flight in a formula that includes the wind direction and speed in addition to the weight and engine out performance data for that aircraft.

Thanks for the clarification. I am sure many decisions go into flight planning and many are made for the pilot based on many things. I never understood why some might think the pilot is a "rookie" or is taking off the "wrong" way just to be different.

If pilots did things like that on their own, they wouldn't be a certified pilot for very long afterward!!

Very much correct and the point I was trying to make.

We did a "wrong way" take off on American for the first time last week. It was kinda fun because it was different, but it's sort of anti-climatic because once you leave the runway all you see is water right away. I prefer sitting on the right side of the plane on a normal take off towards the mountains and watching as we make the big sweeping right turn!
Ed

Doesn't make any difference to us what direction we take off in. Our eyes are foggy because we've been crying about leaving and can't see out anyway!

Never turning into a dead engine is an old wives tail. There are a number of situations where you have to turn into the failed engine and a loss of number 2 on a two engine aircraft or 3 or 4 on a four engine bird if you are taking off on runway 10 at SXM are two of a number of times that a right turn is necessary.

In the first week of May this year we were on one of the day sailing charters based in the Skip Jack Marina area. When returning around 2:30 a jet took off over the water. I believe it might have been JetBlu. The captain of the boat mentioned that it was done to save fuel. Accelerating over the mountain uses up an additional 1/4 ton. Is that a true statement maybe some pilot will respond.

I've been on a flight which has taken off over the water only once in 30 years, and that was some time ago, coming in from the land side rather than the ocean side.

I've actually been on a flight which landed the "wrong way" at SXM too, coming in from the land side rather than the ocean side. That flight was on a puddle jumper returning from St Barth.

"Pilot said we were to heavy to go over the mountain."

That is correct. I watched a "wrong way" takeoff from the terminal last month. I asked a pilot why and he said it is determined by weight.