USVI-On-Line

It was a wonderful flight down all the way from Anchorage to Miami. On time, even. It was a wonderful flight to St. Thomas...almost. We heard it was windy, but didn't seem to worry too much. So, we're just about to land - I mean about 30 feet off the ground and the American Air 737 was bobbing and swaying. No big deal, I've felt this before. Suddenly the pilot took off again without even touching down. That seemed weird, but okay...So he tells us there is a wind sheer warning. He circled around and went in for another try...what? We're taking off again? At this point it is getting a little scary. We are so close to landing in paradise, but no can do. So we fly to San Juan. We sit there for about an hour and decide to give it another try. It was close to 4 and the wind was supposed to die down around sunset. There was a couple who almost got off in San Juan. The flight crew told them they would be on their own from there as far as accommodations, etc. went. They decided to stay. Well, apparently the third time is a charm, because we made it! Everyone was clapping when we finally landed. It was a real white-knuckling experience, even for the most seasoned traveler.

So, here we are back at "home". Today is a mostly cloudy day, so after our morning hike, we are heading to St. Thomas to get the things we need for our next project.

Hope all is well where you are......we'll try to find time to post live from St. John...now that we are finally here!

Seagrape

Check out your flight- you can see some circling for another approach into STT then off to SJU. Looks like you actually were on a 757:

http://map7.flightaware.com/flight_trac ... 1236536160

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/AAL7 ... /KMIA/TIST

I would have FREAKED out! Glad you arrived safely!

liamsaunt wrote: I would have FREAKED out! Glad you arrived safely!

You and me both! My 21 yr old would have been hyperventilating and I would need wine and a valium immediately!

That's happened to me before when flying into Richmond, VA during a massive storm and also when flying into Vegas during 50+ MPH wind gusts. It is a little scary, but the pilot has things totally under control. I have two air traffic controllers in my family, and they assure me that aborted landings happen regularly. It feels a little violent b/c you can feel the thrust of the engines so strongly, but it's safer than trying to land in poor conditions.

WOW! I would have freaked too, more so because my time in STJ was shortened!

So glad you made it safely!
It happened to me flying into Miami once...aborted first try....& landed on second...but still left you thinking for a moment:"...uh...what just happened?".

Glad you're there...enjoy!

Glad everything went well. I work for an airline and know these thing happen sometimes, even if it can be scary.

I experienced my worst turbulence ever, one houre before landing in STT in November. It happend suddenly and I was just opening the door to the aft lavatory and was on my way in. My only chance not being totally tossed around, was to throw myself down on the toilet, holding as firm as I could in the handles and press the feet against the walls and still I was thrown around. I thought I was going to hit my head. That was totally scary and it lasted for 5-10 minutes before I had a chance to go back to my seat.

Anyway - have great vacation.

And tjwgrr - thanks for the link. It was a cool site for a "flight nerd" like me

Whew! It's a good thing there's a bar near the baggage claim!
Hope the rest of your trip is more relaxing

Good to hear you made it - same day service! Is Anchorage Aweigh your villa? Good luck with the season. It looks like Inner Visions is playing at Sputnick II on Thursday, have fun!!

Cheeers, RickG

We were waiting for that equipment in STT to fly to Miami yesterday. USAir, Delta, and Spirit flights landed all around the same time without problems. We were told on the plane after we left that the pilot had warnings of dangerous windshear two times-the protocol in that case is to abort to another airport.

Being a little more than two hours late (we left at 5:30 instead of 3:20) connections were thrown off for lots of people. Our Chicago bound connection, however, was also more than two hours late because the crew coming from Chicago was delayed. Talk about being better lucky than good!

Unable to leave the gift horse alone though, AA managed to have all of the STT-MIA luggage from our flight put on the a different MIA-ORD plane forcing another 30-40 minute wait.

Cleared the airport just after midnight-it could have been much worse.

RickG wrote:Good to hear you made it - same day service! Is Anchorage Aweigh your villa? Cheeers, RickG

We came very close to booking Anchorage Aweigh this trip. Please let us know how you like it!

Glad to hear you made it safely.

Take good care of "our" house

Glad it ended ok...Wehad the reverse happen to us flying out of San Juan a few years back. Pilot had to abort 2 take offs and on the 3rd try he said...we should have burn enough fuel to take off now. Never like a pilot say 'should'.

Dave