Storm Stories

I really enjoy watching the weather channel on television. Listening to the calming music and watching live radar is extremely interesting to me. I don't have an iphone or ipad but my friends and co-workers sometimes show me the current weather before we go. Living in Texas we have the most severe storms of just about anywhere in the country. And most of my flights originate or end up in Dallas.

My last trip was a definite reminder that Summer is here. It's not like the 100 degree weather was not enough to convince me. The entire trip was filled with weather, weather and even more weather. Storm Clouds, high winds, lightening, and of course delays. We get our weather briefing on the Flight Attendants iphone. We see all the red and wonder why exactly anyone needs to go to Jacksonville today. It is June and it is time for the massive lines of thunderstorms that march across the country. You know the ones with the softball size hail and tops to 45,000 feet and greater. The ones you don't want to be anywhere near. Especially in an airplane. We departed DFW and headed to Jacksonville. We flew South around the weather. Our original departure had been delayed for maintenance so we were 2 hours later than scheduled. We get to Jacksonville and then fly back deviating around the weather again. This time we fly to the North.

We arrive into DFW and we are scheduled to change planes and terminals. There is a level six thunderstorm coming into DFW from the West. ATC tells us it should hit in about 1 hour after we land. Which is what time we are going to be departing for Atlanta. So we take a walk and finally get settled into our new jet. Our passengers are on board and they are thrilled to finally be heading to Atlanta. We push off the gate and we can feel the wind starting to rock us around. We start our taxi and the tower tells us the wind is 270 degrees at 42 gusting 48 knots. We are not legal to takeoff with those winds. After we get the aircraft turned around we see the lightening and the storm have hit the West side of the airport. We taxi to the East side of the airport to see if it is better over there. The first thing we see when crossing the bridge is flashing red lights of about 15 airplanes are waiting to takeoff. Time now, is almost 11pm. We shut down the engines and watch the rain, wind and lightening fill our windsheild. The Captain and I talk and listen to the occasional tower call windshear alerts. No other jets are departing and we are not sure when we are going to get out of there. It gets later and later and wind starts to die down. Finally, we hear another airplane on the frequency that is landing 17C. I recognize her voice and laugh because she is a S80 Captain who lives in my neighborhood. She is the first one to land. She tells us, the weather is good to the West. That is great but we are going East to Atlanta.

When it is our turn to depart the controller clears us for takeoff. He sends us off to the West and then North to keep us clear of the worst weather. We look at our fuel and try to decide how long we will be able to go the wrong direction before we have to make a decision. The windscreen is filled with some St Elmos Fire and that interferes with the radio transmissions. So we have trouble talking to ATC. We switch radios and finally get a turn to the East. It is after midnight and we don't have to worry about traffic. We finally get far enough from the storm to hear the radio clearly.

Not even a Fedex or UPS airplane on the frequency. All the other aircraft that were in line were headed West. We fly alone without many radio calls to the East. Atlanta clears us to land on any runway. Landing at 2am does have its benefits. Our crew waits on the van and we get into bed around 3:30am. This is not a normal day but in the Summer you must always be prepared for anything. Be flexible, is the name of the game because a big storm can foul up even the best laid plans.