National News

A lone airplane flew into the path of Hurricane Irma (and made it out in time)

By Dialynn Dwyer

1 minute to read

As Hurricane Irma barreled through the Caribbean, devastating islands and knocking out power to thousands, a lone Delta flight raced to land in Puerto Rico — and take off again — before the storm hit. Aviation and transportation writer Jason Rabinowitz captured the nail-biting approach and frantic turnaround in a series of tweets Wednesday in real time. The writer tweeted updates as Delta Airlines Flight 431, headed from John F. Kennedy International Airport to San Juan, became the lone airplane headed into the path of the hurricane.

Other Twitter users cheered on the flight as Rabinowitz posted updates.

https://twitter.com/M_Urquijo/status/905469308372967426

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With Irma bearing down on Puerto Rico, once the flight landed it was time for a quick turnaround.

According to Rabinowitz, the flight spent just 52 minutes on the ground before taking off for New York, flying between the outer band of Hurricane Irma and the storm’s core.

A Delta spokeswoman told The Huffington Post that the flight traveled from New York to Puerto Rico “on a safe route, touched down, picked up the people that needed to be picked up and made it back to John F. Kennedy.”