CRJ50 captain reports departure delays due to weather and late arriving crew members. Once airborne ...

Narrative:

At the gate; we were delayed an hour; until all 3 crew members came in. The plane was there but with a deferred APU and a line of thunderstorms were coming. We boarded and fueled the plane. We asked for an extra 500 pounds of fuel; as we thought we'd be delayed at the gate. If we came back to the gate; I would have timed out; as my duty day was stretched long. We pushed back and the airport closed until the storms passed. At that point we called dispatch and moved out contingency fuel. We had enough for minimum fuel for takeoff. We also got a new clearance. Dispatch and the crew were ok with the route and the fuel. After takeoff we headed north approximately 80 miles then east. The storms built to our south in an east/west line. We couldn't break through. Fuel became an issue and we spoke to dispatch over the #2 radio. All of us agreed we wouldn't make it to destination and chose an unplanned alternate. We diverted. Timed out and completed the flight the next day. I later called in sick; as it was day 6 and was fatigued; but I wanted the money. Fix the APU; staff airline properly; study weather patterns for the area; as well as interpret the taf's.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: CRJ50 Captain reports departure delays due to weather and late arriving crew members. Once airborne the flight is unable to reach their destination due to the line of thunderstorms and diverts. Duty time limitations result in the flight continuing the next day.

Narrative: At the gate; we were delayed an hour; until all 3 crew members came in. The plane was there but with a deferred APU and a line of thunderstorms were coming. We boarded and fueled the plane. We asked for an extra 500 LBS of fuel; as we thought we'd be delayed at the gate. If we came back to the gate; I would have timed out; as my duty day was stretched long. We pushed back and the airport closed until the storms passed. At that point we called Dispatch and moved out contingency fuel. We had enough for minimum fuel for takeoff. We also got a new clearance. Dispatch and the crew were ok with the route and the fuel. After takeoff we headed north approximately 80 miles then east. The storms built to our south in an east/west line. We couldn't break through. Fuel became an issue and we spoke to Dispatch over the #2 radio. All of us agreed we wouldn't make it to destination and chose an unplanned alternate. We diverted. Timed out and completed the flight the next day. I later called in sick; as it was day 6 and was fatigued; but I wanted the money. Fix the APU; staff airline properly; study weather patterns for the area; as well as interpret the TAF's.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	902289
Time
Date	201007
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Regional Jet 200 ER/LR (CRJ200)
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Parked
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 150 Flight Crew Total 7900 Flight Crew Type 6000
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue

CRJ50 captain reports departure delays due to weather and late arriving crew members. Once airborne the flight is unable to reach their destination due to the line of thunderstorms and diverts. Duty time limitations result in the flight continuing the next day.