A SWA flight from Denver to STL arrived in the St Louis area when a TS was right over the field. Accounts differ on what happened next. Passengers said they made two missed approaches. SWA says the plane "circled over the field" (seems unlikely). In any case, the crew announced they were out of gas and were diverting to SUS. SUS is a fine GA airport with ILS and a 7,485 foot runway, but there are no airline operations there. They don't have fire and rescue, for instance.
So here is my question. Shouldn't the captain have diverted to a field where there is airline service before SUS became his only option? I was on an American flight into STL that hung around for a while before diverting to SPI.
So here is my question. Shouldn't the captain have diverted to a field where there is airline service before SUS became his only option? I was on an American flight into STL that hung around for a while before diverting to SPI.
