Last Flight Out Evacuated 173 People Ahead Of The Storm

A Delta Boeing 737 with about 30 people on board landed at San Juan, Puerto Rico Wednesday as hurricane Irma began raking the island with heavy winds and rain. A short time later, the plane departed back to New York's JFK Airport with 180 passengers and crew on board.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reposted images posted on social media show the plane escaping between one of the storm's outer bands and the core of the hurricane.

The flight caused a Twitterstorm, as you might imagine. Many of the posts can be seen here.

When the flight was over and safely back in New York, Delta posted the following to its website:

“Armed with the latest forecast from the airline’s meteorology team, Delta operated its last scheduled flight to and from San Juan on Wednesday ahead of the storm,” it said. “Flight 431 from New York-JFK arrived at 12:01 p.m. to nine miles of visibility and light rain. Winds were around 24 knots with gusts up to 31 knots – all well below operating limits for the 737-900ER to safely operate. Flight 302 then departed San Juan at 12:41 p.m., just 40 minutes after landing, with 173 customers on board.

“Our meteorology team is the best in the business,” said Erik Snell, Vice President – Delta Operations and Customer Center. “They took a hard look at the weather data and the track of the storm and worked with the flight crew and dispatcher to agree it was safe to operate the flight. And our flight and ground crews were incredible in their effort to turn the aircraft quickly and safely so the flight could depart well before the hurricane threat.”

“Delta’s proprietary flight weather viewer app that pilots use to help predict turbulence was another tool used by crews to make the final San Juan flights as smooth as possible.”

We're betting it was a bumpy ride nonetheless.

(Image from file)

FMI: www.delta.com