A Delta Airlines flight landed in San Juan, Puerto Rico, just before Hurricane Irma impacted the island Wednesday — and got back out ahead of the storm, as well.
Slipping between bands of the storm, Flight 431 landed in San Juan at 12:01 p.m., picked up 173 passengers, and left at 12:41 p.m. for New York City, The Washington Post reported.
It was the last flight in and out of San Juan before the airport shut down for the storm, which passed by the island but left tens of thousands without power due to strong winds and rain.
Winds were 28 to 36 miles per hour when the flight landed, which is well below the safety limits for the aircraft.
“Our meteorology team is the best in the business,” Delta VP of operations Erik Snell said in a statement, the Post reported. “They took a hard look at the weather data and the track of the storm and worked with the flight crew and dispatcher to agree it was safe to operate the flight.”
Twitter user and "aviation geek" Jason Rabinowitz live-tweeted the ordeal while watching radar technology.
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