The Flight That Almost Happened

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Departure Airport: Duluth International Airport (DLH/KDLH)
Arrival Airport: Denver International Airport (DEN/KDEN)
Airline: United
Aircraft: Airbus A320
Flight Time: 1 hour, 55 minutes
Cruising Altitude: FL360, FL340
Server: Expert


Back in 2019, United Airlines announced that they would begin a daily service from Duluth, Minnesota, to Denver, Colorado on their A320. The start date was in April of 2020. Along came COVID-19, and crushed that plan. Following the pandemic, United assessed the demand as being ‘too low for profitability,’ so it never materialized. They still hold a multiple times daily service to Chicago/O’hare, and it’s certainly possible it comes about sometime in the future.


Pushing back and getting our engines started for our flight down to Colorado. We would be pushing through two main lines of storms, one over North/Central Minnesota and another over the South Dakota/Nebraska border. There were lots of small cells across the rest of our route, making for a bumpy ride.


We powered out of a deceptively sunny Duluth, heading out over Lake Superior before banking all the way around to the Southeast.


Duluth is a really beautiful city


Climbing up to 36,000 feet, we passed through the first line of storms. We were buffeted by moderate turbulence with a smattering of severe. Because of how large the system was, it was unavoidable.


Captain’s view over western Minnesota. We lowered down to FL340, because the air was a little smoother down there. We kept hitting storm cells over South Dakota, so the seatbelt sign couldn’t be turned off.


More turbulence crossing the Nebraska - Colorado border


We initially made our approach for Denver’s Runway 35R. On final, the winds suddenly changed, and we now had a strong tailwind. After going around, we looped around for a Landin got Runway 8.


We had an incredibly floaty but soft touchdown onto Runway 8. Luckily, the runways at DEN are quite long, so braking wasn’t a concern.


We made the lengthy taxi over to the terminal, where we docked 5 minutes behind schedule.


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13 Likes

I’m cooked again😨

Nice trip report!

1 Like

As we say here in Minnesota, oof da.

Thanks!

2 Likes

Cool pics. Dropping flares and chaff.

1 Like

MAJOR EXPLOSION!

1 Like

Oh well, just gonna use my old laser jamming system I found in a dark alleyway!

Oh flippin heck I accessed the doc

Cool shots! Love the captain’s view!

Good bye guys, it was nice knowing you 👋

3 Likes

Very interesting find! I learned a new thing, thanks @Mort

Good bye my mate, never forget that you died for us with devotion ! 🇺🇲😂

1 Like