The wind was so horrible this morning we did not want to go out. However, we have a rule. Only on Sunday, our day of rest, do we allow ourselves to stay indoors. Well, there have been exceptions for snow and hail, but otherwise, we go out. So, what does one do on a day when winds are blowing up to 50 mph with gusts much higher? Well, of course, you go to the airport!! Frankly we have wanted to do this several times during our stays here. McCarron is so incredibly busy that we thought it would be interesting to see how it manages all those planes coming in only about 90 seconds apart. So, off we went. We found a spot in the parking area. We certainly were not alone! The first three dozen or so planes that landed were interesting, but the wind increased and the heart stopping action began. Every plane no matter the size came in crooked and every plane had an abnormal and bumpy landing. Before we realized it, it got really bad and one plane came in and touched down on only one wheel, the left rear wheel. He went over half way down the runway before he could get the other two wheels down. He was close to running out of room. The adrenaline started pumping. A couple of planes after that one actually aborted his landing before we could open our mouths to make a sound. He was at the beginning of the runway when suddenly he turned the nose straight up like a rocket and shot into the clouds. We did not utter a sound. We couldn't. It's called "speechless". After that we watched planes bounce up and down, tip from side to side, sit down closer to the tail than the middle or front and still we could only gasp. A very nicely dressed man pulled in and parked next to us. He got out and asked how it was going. So we told him about the aborted landing. He said his daughter loves airplanes so he stops there once a week to take videos for her. Nice father. The bouncing continued until one really horrific landing almost happened in front of us. It was so bad people pulled into the parking lot with their eyes as big as saucers. It was a United plane. It came down twisted in an odd direction and it was bouncing wing tip to wing tip. He bounced down and then back up, down again and back up. It was very obvious he was not going to land successfully. As the plane bounced nose up one more time he poured the pedal to the metal, so to speak and aborted the landing just feet off the runway. It was so shocking you could feel the electricity in the air all around us. We waited for him to come around again, but they changed the landing pattern and used a different set of runways. I cannot imagine the fear in that pilot's heart and mind. We were so wired we just had to leave and come home to catch our breath.
I was so busy gasping I could not take pictures of the bouncing planes. But I snapped a few of the calmer landings.
Southwest is the predominant airlines here. They don't fly any
big planes out of this airport.
Thomas Cook Scandinavia Airlines. Never heard of them.
I loved the big colorful heart on the tail.
The face on the tail of this Alaskan airlines plane appears to
be a Samoan man. But I am certain he would have to be of the
Aleutian tribe to be on an Alaskan plane.
Allegiant Airlines. Every once in a while a Copa Airlines plane
took off but I was unable to get a picture. That is one airline neither
of us has ever heard of. There were no 747s to land or take off.
If you had told me this morning that we would go watch airplanes land and take off I would have said I thought you were out of your mind. But................well, we just could not resist. It was more excitement than we have had in a long time. The wind has calmed down to 40 mph. Lovely. Another sleepless night lies ahead.
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