B737 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Situational Awareness
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Aircraft Aircraft Damaged; General Flight Cancelled / Delayed; General Maintenance Action
Company Policy; Weather
We arrived at ops to get the paperwork for our flight and noticed that the weather was forecast to be less than stellar later in the day. The current weather wasn't overly horrible so after talking with the dispatcher we decided to go; even though we both thought it was not a great day to go. Enroute we pulled the weather and it was four miles vis with scattered at (I don't remember exactly the layer) at 1100 and was reported as overcast at 4900. The wind was approximately 090 36G45 and the temperature was -1C. Easy peasy. We opted to shoot the ILS via the arc and broke out at 600 feet with gusty (as advertised) winds. I let the jet roll out until about 1000 remaining on the runway and slowly used differential power and braking (due to the patchy icy conditions) to get the jet turned around. We taxied slowly to the approach end of the runway and exited. We parked at the normal parking spot soon thereafter. After shutting down the snow fall intensified and the wind seemed to increase a little more so the ramp folks didn't feel comfortable opening the main cargo door since the snow was heavy and wet creating some very slippery conditions. We talked with the station manager/CLP and decided to leave the pallets onboard and return them for a better day. That caused quite a delay due to the fact the load planner had to manually enter the loads from the igloos into the system. During that time the snowfall intensified and the wind did as well. Our calculations from the de-icing app showed we would have a very short holdover time on the type one fluid; so we asked for type four as well. We got back out to the jet and closed up the forward door and the aft flight attendants called and requested that we close the back as well. We had 53 people onboard and I told them yes; because of the cold air whipping around the plane. The snowfall yet again intensified and the official weather (ATIS) said it was 1/4 of a mile and heavy snow. We ran through the app and now we were stuck with no holdover time even with type four. The original forecast had called for the weather to remain poor until XA00 and we stayed in the plane to hope for a window to launch. A short time later; the focus went from getting the airplane out of there to getting the folks off the plane. It was at that time we called FSS and they gave us winds of 090 48G60. The ramp crew came out to attempt to get the air stairs to the plane and since the snowfall was heavy and wet made the ramp a large sheet of ice. The air stairs could not gain any type of traction on the ramp and began to be blown by the wind away from the aft boarding door. Soon after the load planner called and let me know it was too dangerous to get the people off. We decided; in the interest of the ramp crews safety and the folks that would have to deplane; that we would keep everyone onboard the aircraft until the weather could improve a little; or the winds would die down enough to keep the air stairs in position long enough to deplane the folks. It pretty much never did. We sat in the cockpit for over seven hours and the pax in the back were onboard for approximately six and a half hours. Finally we decided to attempt to get them off and the ramp crew got the air stairs to the plane and parked a baggage tug against the stairs. We also enlisted to assistance of the DOT from the airport and they pulled heavy equipment in front and around the plane to get the people off. It was some sight to see; sand trucks; plow trucks and other equipment placed all around the plane; with the ramp folks pushing against the stairs to keep them upright and then the CSAs in a line to provide stability to the folks as they shuffled into the terminal. We waited in the cockpit for them to secure the aft section of the plane and then the guys had to now plow a path for the stairs to be pulled up to us next. About 45 minutes later they got the snow drifts to a minimum and got the stairs; baggage tug bracing the stairs and the ramp folks into position to get us into the terminal. The snow was so heavy and wet that just in the 40-50 foot walk from the jet we were soaked on the upwind side of our heads. We finally ran out of crew duty day and after talking with MX control; we decided to secure the jet for the night. We left the APU running for heat in the plane and did the normal winter ops items to ensure the plane would be good for the morning. We couldn't put the engine covers on due to the heavy winds; but I still think that would have been a suicide mission for the ramper to grab a large piece of fabric with that much wind. It would have been like carrying a parachute in those 50-65 MPH winds. The ramp crew brought out the ground power unit and we left the APU on for warm air and hooked the ground power up supplying electricity. The ramp crew drained the water even though we closed the outflow valve to 90%. Good call on their part. We had approximately 7000 pounds of fuel in each tank and I figured that after 15 hours we should be left with about 2500 pounds remaining in the tank for APU burn; Plenty.The next morning we arrived at the airport and began to get ready to head back. The weather was intermittently good and varying between 1/4 of a mile and snow to about 3 miles and snow. The FO went out and began his preflight and returned shortly thereafter to inform me the battery was dead. At some point in the night the ground power had lost contact with the jet and it ran the battery down. The APU was still running and we tried to connect it to both the ground power and the APU; but to no avail since the contact would have been open. I called dispatch and MX control and they coordinated for two mechanics and a new battery to be flown out for us. They replaced the battery and everything was going smooth. The aircraft that brought our battery in was parked in front of us and while trying to taxi out could not get any nosewheel authority and had to use differential power to get out of the cramped space he was parked in. The winds were still rather strong and the heater unit blew into the fan shroud of the number two engine. Luckily it wasn't bad and luckily we had MX there to coordinate for the folks at engineering etc. to get us all the required documentation to regain airworthiness of the plane relatively quickly. Now it became later in the day and our flight was cleared to go. The vis went up to about 3/4 to 1 mile with squalls of snow blowing through; so at least we could get a holdover time now. We closed up; got deiced and then tried to start number two. The vibration was intense and the acceleration of the motor was slow with no N1 so we shut the engine down. The mechanics looked at the engine again and it looked okay; so we tried it again. No N1 and again very bad vibration. We shut it down once more. The ramp agent and the mechanic said the wind was turning the fan in the correct direction and after we tried to light off the motor; the fan blade stopped and rotated backwards. I didn't feel comfortable starting the motor again and got in touch with Maintenance Control to get approval to try again. I was asked to motor the engine for two minutes; stop; motor again; stop and then start the motor. That was a great call since it introduced warm air into the turbine. The third time we started the motor the engine lit off fine and began to accelerate normally with no vibration. Then starter cutout occurred and the engine flamed out. I again got on the phone and we decided to try again. It made it to about 55% that time and the engine flamed out again. While all of this was going on the mechanics were pouring hot air to the number one engine. We opted to see if we could get number one going and couldn't even get rotation on the motor; just air to the starter. I'm guessing from the turbine being frozen. We once again ran out of crew duty day and were instructed by scheduling to go back to the hotel. The mechanics stayed all night at the planeand also borrowed another herman nelson from one of the other carriers. They slept on the plane as the motors thawed. Unfortunately they were not engine run qualified and never did get to see if the motors started. We deadheaded out on day three and the trip was over. I called MX today to see if the plane was brought back home yet or not and was told that the number two engine was ruined and that the number one engine was being boroscoped to see the extent of the damage. I know there are people that are going to say that the engine cover should have been on; but I don't know of any way in that storm that it could have happened. Like I said before; it would have been a suicide mission. I guess the big thing I took away from this is that the press forward attitude we all have kind of bit us in the butt a bit in this case. With the weather the way it was and forecast to be plus the inability to get the containers off the plane we were forced to deny boarding to a number of people (tallying up over $10;000) plus the $400 for each person that was stranded on the plane for 6 1/2 hours. The system was okay in a lot of respects; but there is a definite disconnect in having operations run from so far away. There are tons of people that deserve credit in the past few days; our dispatchers; the entire station and the crew I was privileged to have. It was an incredible thing to see having all these people bust their butts for the operation and the passengers. One thing I think I could have done differently was to leave the APU on the bus instead of ground power. That may have taken some of the problems away that we encountered throughout the day; but ultimately is almost tertiary in the fact the engines were packed with ice. They did heat the motors that morning; but I'm guessing that it also might have thawed the ice in there and refroze in the lower part of the turbine. It's all a guess at this point.
B737 Captain reported flying to an airport with high winds and heavy snow. The ramp winds were too high to allow the cargo door to be opened. With the cargo still on board and heavy snow; the hold over time reduced to zero even with type IV fluid. The wind was too strong to safely remove the passengers for over six hours. The next day the engines would not start due to snow ingestion.