Why would a plane only be able to be moved by its pilot?
I was flying out of LAX not too long ago when I had a 4 hour delay on the flight. When I asked the airport staff for info regarding the delay, they told me that the airplane parked at the gate wasn't the plane we were flying in and that it couldn't be moved until the pilot got there, and the pilot was currently in Arizona. This seemed strange to me as it seems like it could be towed out of the way if needed.
Additional info: I was originally supposed to be flying out of gate x (don't remember the exact number) and about 30 minutes before boarding got switched to gate y which had the airplane that couldn't be moved. I asked some of the people who were at gate y (they were switched to gate x) if they had been delayed at all, and they had already been waiting 4 hours and were given the same info as I was. The airplane was a bit bigger plane than I flew on which was a United Airlines plane with two rows of 3 seats (I think it was a 737). The plane was eventually moved (didn't seem to be towed or anything) after about 8 hours of total waiting.
Is there any reason why an airport would need to wait 8 hours for a pilot to arrive from somewhere else to move a plane, or is this just an excuse they made up?
Best Answer
Put simply, no, that does not make sense - or at least, not as the full story.
LAX is a major airport for United Airlines - they have around 20 gates available to them (all dedicated to United/United Express), and upwards of several dozen flight movements per hour. They also have a strong "ground" presence (ground staff, tugs, etc) as a result.
If they needed that gate for your flight, or any other flight, they would have been able to tow the plane somewhere else. Alternatively, they would have moved your flight to a different gate that either wasn't occupied, or which was due to be cleared quicker than you've described.
That said, that doesn't mean that what you were told was wrong - likely it just wasn't the full story. It's very possible that the crew that was due to fly that aircraft were in Arizona and were flying into LAX. However that, in itself, wasn't the reason you would have been delayed.
The fact that your gate was changed shortly before departure is an indication that they were shuffling planes between flights. This is common when there is disruptions - most likely they choose to use the plane that you were due to fly on for another flight, and assigned your flight a new gate.
The plane you were then assigned to was either delayed, or potentially not even due to arrive until after your scheduled departure, which is why you had to wait. At some stage before your aircraft arrived, they moved the plane that was parked at the gate.
There is no way that a four plus hour delay (and all of the flow-on delays that would cause) would be triggered just because they had nobody to move the plane - at least not for United at LAX.
Pictures about "Why would a plane only be able to be moved by its pilot?"
Why do some planes not move in the air?
The theory states that a wing keeps an airplane up by pushing the air down. Air has mass, and from Newton's third law it follows that the wing's downward push results in an equal and opposite push back upward, which is lift. The Newtonian account applies to wings of any shape, curved or flat, symmetrical or not.Can a plane fly without pilots?
Nowadays, Federal Aviation Administration regulations make a two-person crew standard. But the FAA also requires that in an emergency, airliners must be capable of being flown by a single pilot.Can a plane be in the air and not move?
Can an airplane stay up in the air without moving forward just like helicopter? A: Techincally, there is only one way for the aircraft to remain hanging motionless in the air: if weight and lift cancel each other out perfectly, and at the same time thrust and drag cancel each other out too. But this is incredibly rare.Why might airplanes soon just have one pilot?
Having only one pilot on board would save airlines money, but only if the new ground operators and advanced automation doesn't end up costing more, NASA says. Additional minor savings could come from smaller or lighter cockpits in future aircraft.How Does Autopilot Work? A Pilot Explains What It Can and Can’t Do | WSJ
More answers regarding why would a plane only be able to be moved by its pilot?
Answer 2
Regardless of whether someone can move the aircraft, there's no way you're delayed 8 hours because one gate is occupied. If that were the only reason, they would have sent your plane to another gate and told you to board there. United has multiple gates at LAX.
I suspect that the explanation was poor or misunderstood and that the delay is because you were waiting for the pilot/flight crew of your flight to arrive. Delays because crew aren't available happen from time to time.
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: Pixabay, ThisIsEngineering, APEX.GRAPHICS, Pixabay