Welp, yesterday was an ‘experience’ I don’t care to repeat…
Got up early to catch and earlier flight home from SMF, only to have one pilot turn up sick. Back on my original flight to DEN. Got there, looked at the weather and went and bought a big bottle of water. There was a SOLID front scheduled to hit DFW about the time I arrived!
Sure enough, a half hour out of DEN on what was supposedly a 1+20 flight to DFW, we started hitting turbulence. And couldn’t get out of it!
And then the fun started! A reroute NORTH, not south around the southern edge of the storm front. We ended up north of Ft. Smith, then routed down about to Alexandria, LA, then in the back way to DFW, all in what ‘I’ would call moderate turbulence. I could tell we were changing altitudes every 10-15 minutes, but we never got any smooth air. The flight attendants spent over an hour in their seats, and our 1+20 flight turned into 2+30 when we finally landed an hour late (and sketchy on gas).
But I did have a first on that flight! The first time EVER my bag was the first one up the conveyor belt!!! Grabbed the bag and ran to the car (many thanks to JimJim for coming to get me). We had just gotten on 820 heading out when the RAIN hit, closely followed by wind gusts I’m guessing were upward of 60mph, that were moving my SUV from one lane to the other. And we had to dodge at least one of the big road signs that been blown into the roadway! Folks were hiding under overpasses, or in some cases just stopped in the lanes (IDJITS).
It took right at an hour to get to Rhome, normally a half hour drive at speed, but we were doing 25 to 30mph and there were times we might have been able to see 100 yards…maybe… And more people stopped in odd places. Pretty much everybody was running their hazard warnings, and skating around due to the amount of water on the road.
A little over 2 hours later, I was finally home! And as soon as I finished this post, I crashed…
So don’t expect any replies early this morning. And a last update on PP, she is doing better, had her second PT and they ‘exercised’ the joint and nothing came apart! Great news, even if she was hurting afterward.
And some people were asking about the amount of snow up in Lake County… From a commercial photog who got a drone up!
6 inches of snow lakeside, 12 inches up where we were, and 18-19 inches on tops of the hills!
Welcome home.
Glad you are safely back home.
This spring weather can be bad (Air Force pilot words about it thought but not written). I have had to take similar excursions to avoid thunderstorms. It may have taken you longer but the pilot did you right.
If you rated the turbulence as moderate, how were the other people on the plane handling it?
Welcome back from the land of Not! (Explained to me by a Texan: There is Texas, and everything else is Not-Texas.)
Great news on PP’s shoulder. I’m sure she really appreciated you being there to help out, distract kids, moral support, etc…
Quite the adventure you had. I hope you actually got the intended long sleep-in that you had planned.
Glad you made it.
That crap weather is suppose hit here just about the time my wife has a doctor’s appointment. Grrr!
With airlines forcing COVID vaccines on the pilots and seeing reports from various pilots I will not fly ever again. I worry about driving down a freeway but it is a matter of time until we start having issues with planes. I am glad you came through ok.
Glad you got back home safe. Weather really makes the simple things much more difficult sometimes.
Ed- Thanks!
Bill- Yeah, I was using a few of those words too… Cattle class seats SUCK in turbulence!
Tuvela- There was some screaming a few times.
Ag- I did!!!
Gerry- Batten down the hatches, it’s NASTY!
JG- Good point! Thanks!
Aaron- As always… sigh
Welcome home! And great news about PP.
With all your hours in the air, “moderate turbulence” is probably other’s, “hell no!”
Yeah. Weird wild weather winter. I haven’t seen the ground on my property since December. First time that’s ever happened and I’ve lived here since before Slick Willie infested the White House.
Looks like you folks out west are getting the weather we used to get here in western PA. No snow here this winter. As a matter of fact the crocuses ar blooming and the trees are beginning to bud out. Temps have been from the high 40s, 50s, and even up to the low 70s. Seems like the whole world has been turned upside down.
That same weather system that your flight was playing with is hitting here tonight at 21:00 and we’re expected to get somewhere between 1 and 1.5 feet of snow over a 14 hour period.
Hurrah for snow blowers.
This is a first! A former P3 back seater complaining about turbulence in a commercial airliner.
All- Thanks and yes, weird weather… Richard, the cattle seats played havoc with my back and thighs… sigh
Glad you made it home safe. I have been stuck at home for a while. I got out long enough to get food and other supplies Friday. Now Lake County is buried again. I’m on Cobb Mountain. We can’t get anywhere. Sigh.