Landing in Thunderstorms -- not really scary, very stunning!

[virabhadra]

First time landing in severe thunderstorms (the storms that passed through the Gulf area last week).

We landed around 5:30 AM, still dark, directly through the storms. We were surrounded by lightening. It would go from pitch black to the flashes of lightening (in every direction) and then bursts of white as we went through clouds. I was surprised by how beautiful it was. I'm pretty sure we weren't struck by lightening, but it was so close and so frequent, it felt like we could have been at any moment.

Oddly, it was much less turbulent than a lot of landings in "normal" weather. Small bumps, and wind gusts very close to the runway.

It was a little nerve-wracking, just b/c I thought planes typically wouldn't land in that kind of weather. But in retrospect very interesting!

Kelly

[tb_neg]

Pretty sure they wouldn't land a $100 million dollar plane if it was dangerous! Great experience, I hope site visitors will post similar stories!

[hokiemas]

Pretty sure they wouldn't land a $100 million dollar plane if it was dangerous! Great experience, I hope site visitors will post similar stories!

I know for a fact they won't land if the weather is too dangerous. Last July, I had a long trip home. Flew from RIC to Orlando, then to Houston, and finally to Mexico City. The flight from Richmond to Orlando was outstanding, and I had a nice (sarcasm) 7 hour layover to see the oh so many things to see in the Orlando airport (a Disney store). About an two hours before my flight, a storm parked itself over the airport. There was lightning, thunder, hail, rain, wind, all in all really comforting stuff when you know you take off in a couple of hours. As my it got close to boarding time, the storm was still there, or it was another storm, but you get the point. The time of the flight kept changing on the board at the gate, first 30 minutes late, then an hour, then two hours, then it didn't matter anymore because there was no way I was making my connection in Dallas. Turns out we were delayed because the plane that was going to take us to Dallas couldn't land in the weather and had to reroute to Jacksonville. We finally ended up leaving about 4 hours late, and I got into Dallas well after my connecting flights departure at which point the American Airlines gave me a five dollar discount at the Motel 6 near the airport and rebooked my flight for the following morning. So obviously, there is weather they simply can't or won't land in, which is fine with me since I like getting on the ground in one piece as I know the pilot and crew does as well. Flying in July for the first time with my 2 year old daughter. Hopefully things go smoothly or my wife's sake. I'm over my fear of turbulence, but she hates it.