Delta plane flies straight into Hurricane Irma, makes it out safely

By Mary Dalrymple, KSL.com | Posted - Sept. 6, 2017 at 3:55 p.m.

 
Delta plane flies straight into Hurricane Irma, makes it out safely

(Jason Rabinowitz, Twitter)

Save Story

Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

HURRICANE IRMA — Flying straight into a hurricane doesn't sound like anyone's idea of a good time, but on Wednesday, one Delta flight did exactly that as it headed for Puerto Rico, right into the path of one of the strongest hurricanes the area has seen in more than a decade.

At 9:33 a.m. (MDT), FlightRadar24, a worldwide air traffic tracker, tweeted the flight details for Delta flight DL431 and pointed out the obvious: the plane was headed right for Hurricane Irma.

The flight had already caught the attention of several Twitter users, including Jason Rabinowitz, a self-described "aviation geek," who tweeted earlier that flights from both Jet Blue and American Airlines had turned around instead of landing at the San Juan, Puerto Rico, airport — the very airport Delta flight DL431 was headed straight toward.

Rabinowitz began live-tweeting updates as he tracked the flight's route into Puerto Rico (and Irma).

Though conditions were "rapidly degrading," Rabinowitz was positive. The airport sits on the outer rim of where the hurricane was and the winds weren't blowing too hard. "This will work," he tweeted.

The tricky part would just be getting out before the hurricane's path obstructed the route too much.

Finally, at 9:58 a.m., the plane landed.

Then began "the quickest turn ever" as Rabinowitz reported winds picking up. In less than an hour though, the flight was listed as boarding, which you know is nothing short of miraculous if you've ever sat for hours at the airport waiting for your plane to be ready to board.

At 10:54 MDT, the plane took off with what Rabinowitz said was a full flight headed back to JFK.

Amazingly, the plane was able to fly between the outer bands of Irma to avoid the worst of the storm as it made its way back to land.

Everyone on Twitter was rightfully impressed with the crew that made this flight possible.

And some people pointed out that the Delta crew may have taken this risk to help those in Irma's path get to safety.

Delta itself agreed that the flight's crew definitely deserved a raise after that bravery.

According to Rabinowitz, this plane was both the last flight in and out of San Juan in the wake of Hurricane Irma. At 1:15 p.m., he tweeted that the air traffic control tower had been evacuated.

Although, if you're looking for flights out of other airports, Jet Blue is offering discounts.

Most recent U.S. stories

Related topics

U.S.

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
    Newsletter Signup

    KSL Weather Forecast

    KSL Weather Forecast
    Play button
    Mobile Apps | Newsletter | Advertise | Contact Us | Careers with KSL.com | Product Updates
    Terms of use | Privacy Statement | DMCA Notice | Manage My Cookies | EEO Public File Report | KSL-TV FCC Public File | KSL FM Radio FCC Public File | KSL AM Radio FCC Public File | Closed Captioning Assistance
    © 2026 KSL.com | KSL Broadcasting Salt Lake City UT | Site hosted & managed by Deseret Digital Media - a Deseret Media Company