Delta Airlines Flight Passes Through Hurricane Irma
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A Delta Airlines flight managed to push ahead of the worst of Hurricane Irma on Wednesday as the storm passed north of Puerto Rico.
DL431 took off from JFK International Airport just past 8:30 a.m. EDT on its way to San Juan, Puerto Rico. Screengrabs from FlightRadar show how close the storm was to the flight itself.
Where others have turned back, Delta #DL431 presses on. #Irma
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) September 6, 2017
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The flight managed to make it in just in time, passing through the storm's outer rain bands.
Aaaaaaaand... Landed! #DL431 #Irma https://t.co/XN6E2TcXUN pic.twitter.com/mrqQsaYpre
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) September 6, 2017
But where DL431 left off, the return flight DL302 had a small margin for error. Though Irma was passing north of Puerto Rico itself, the storm would be passing right through the flight path.
Time to go. #DL431 headed back to New York as #DL302.
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) September 6, 2017
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But somehow, crews were able to beat the storm and find a path through the storm
Takeoff! An absolutely amazing job here by @Delta forecasters, dispatchers, flight and ground crews. Full flight back up to JFK.#Irma pic.twitter.com/sSulqA8g7t
— Jason Rabinowitz (@AirlineFlyer) September 6, 2017
The flight itself managed to pass between rain bands on its way safely back to New York City. In all, the plane managed to unload its passengers, prepare for the next flight and board the next passengers in under an hour to beat the storm
When the weather chooses your departure path for you. #DL302 #Irma
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) September 6, 2017
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