CLEVELAND — Anytime you are taking a trip that involves air travel, you think to look at the weather "here" and "there."
You don't really think about all of that weather that is happening in between, but there are dozens of meteorologists employed by airlines who keep an eye on the sky specifically for threats to air safety. Ultimately the "go" or "no go" is up to the captain and pilots are given rigorous and specialized training to fly commercial.
Weather had been a major factor in delays and cancellations for a few days, so the airlines were still trying to catch up. The massive winter storm swept from coast-to-coast and brought historic snowfall to the Southwest and brutally high wind to the Great Lakes and Northeast.
So trying to get home to Cleveland from Phoenix, where I had been working for a few days before staying with a friend for a couple more days, would be an interesting part of the trip. Originally, I was going to come home early Saturday afternoon, but my flight was delayed and so I would miss my connection home. All of the other flights were full, so I was bumped to Sunday.
You know, Sunday. The windy day. The day with the high wind warning by the National Weather Service and potential for gusts over 65 miles per hour. The "event" my meteorological friends were going ga-ga over. "Event" is a big word in the world of weather.
We knew it would be bumpy - especially getting into Cleveland. When we left Phoenix (Southwest Airlines flight #3846) it was sunny, in the 50s with light wind. It wasn't long after we pulled back from the gate that the pilot let us know the plan: smooth flying until we get to Cleveland.
I nabbed a window seat (my favorite) which gave me a view of the ground (who doesn't love to look at the mountains!) and a view of the wing. If/when turbulence happens, those wing tips really bounce (they are designed to do that). I planned to grab some video of the landing.
As expected, the flight was perfectly smooth across country. We flew along for hours at 37,000 feet.
Based on the time left in the duration of the flight (smartly calculated by how long my movie was... I watched Becoming Jane for those of you who may be curious), about the time we crossed into Ohio just northwest of Cincinnati, we started our slow descent. Clouds appeared on the horizon as we turned northeast to fly roughly parallel with I-71.
After a few minutes of trash gathering and personal devices stowing, I spied Mansfield Lahm Airport below the clouds which had really thickened. Our pilot came on and reminded us it was going to be a little bumpy, asked us to make sure our seat belts were fastened and then asked the crew to get into their seats.
We were continuing a slow steady drop. I knew from looking at morning weather information that the peak winds were around 2,000 feet above ground or so, so it would be the final few minutes of the flight that would be the worst. We flew along the whispy and wind smoothed cloud tops for several minutes before we began our turn.
Cleveland-Hopkins Airport main runways run southwest to northeast. Planes take off into and land into the wind, so with a southwest wind (wind coming from the southwest) we approached from the northeast. This is the "normal" approach to CLE and why we see so many planes over/near Downtown Cleveland.
Just about the time we dropped below the cloud bases, I spied the lakeshore and University Circle. We flew westward along the lakeshore and passed over Downtown Cleveland (I made a note to myself that the "3" on our WKYC Station tower on Lakeside Avenue was lit up in red.. .that means a warning is active).
I saw other landmarks as we made the last run at the airport. It was bumpy but wasn't "too" bad. Then we started our final descent to the airport.
I recorded the last four and a half minutes of the flight just to have record of a bumpy landing. I wasn't scared, not too nervous, really, because the plane was flying into a gusty HEADwind. If it were a cross wind it would have been a totally different beast. It was the variation in the wind speed (the gusts) that made it bumpy.
It was quiet on the plane as we started bouncing. I could sense folks were a little nervous.
According to our flight log, we made the usual long, slow descent at the Ohio state line and then held between 3,250 feet and 3,350 feet from the time we made our "turn" (at 4:21) over Highland Heights (eastern Cuyahoga County) until our final drop started at 4:24 p.m.
It was notably bumpy during the last couple minutes. You could hear the engines working as the pilot increased/decreased power. The flaps on the back of the wings were flipping up and down faster than Michael Phelps' feet in the pool as the pilot worked with the wind to keep us as steady as possible.
Air currents are notoriously chaotic in the "boundary layer" the lowest layers of the atmosphere where the air is directly influenced by contact with the surface (heating, cooling, friction, etc). Add into all of that major pressure changes (which is what drives the wind) and it made for some challenging conditions.
Finally the I-480/I-71 interchange came into view and we could see the airport coming toward us. We bounced along until it seemed like it was taking forever for the wheels to finally touch pavement.
With a notable "thud" and then a second, we made contact. Then the engines roared as the reverse thrust deployed to slow our speed.
As passengers applauded and half-jokingly told each other "we made it", the flight attendant welcomed us to Cleveland and said "those old fighter pilots are the ones you want in the cockpit."
Seemingly more patient than normal, we all grabbed our stuff and headed for the door. I popped my head into the cockpit to thank the pilot and first officer. They were smiling at each other. I asked if the captain (sitting left) would give permission for a selfie and they both obliged with smiles. The captain, smiling from behind a respectable mustache pointed to his first officer and said, "He's the one that brought us in."
The First Officer held up a "#1" as I snapped the pic.
I asked if he really was a fighter pilot, and he responded with a smiling, "Yes." I asked which branch of the military and he said Air Force.
"Well, thank you for your service, and thank you for a great landing in tricky conditions," I replied.
Hell of a job, sir. Well done.