We are trapped. Plane in tornado (STL Apr 22, 2011; field now reopened)
Apr 24, 2011, 6:50 am
#151
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ZakkW
Apr 24, 2011, 7:00 am
#152
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I was on 699 on 4/22. Quite a ride. They had announced a delay a few minutes before things starting happening. Captain had just walked up the jetway to the gate when the storm hit...so he missed it. First officer kept us informed. They treated us well. Once off the plane it was quite an interesting walk through a dark terminal and out into the destruction in front of Terminal 1.
Apr 24, 2011, 7:05 am
#153
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I fly back on Tuesday will also take some photos
I fly back on Tuesday will also take some photos
Apr 24, 2011, 7:09 am
#154
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Perhaps they will think it through and take the employees from C and ask them to go to Term 2? Or perhaps that IS asking too much of the TSA
Apr 24, 2011, 8:42 am
#155
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First Hand Account from This Morning
I am at work this morning. My commute to work involves going north on 270 and east on 70 past the airport.
In coming up to 70, you can see a bit of damage to some houses and trees on both sides of 270. Once you hit 70 east, you don't see much except blown over sides until you reach 70 and the Rock Road. From there east, the damage is awesome (not good; just severe). It has hard not to be amazed at the amount of damage done. You can clearly see it on both sides of the highway. Many of the pictures from the news look like someone pulled off of the highway and took the pictures.
By the time I reached the airport, other than some downed signs you cannot see damage from the highway. On my way home from work in a few hours, I may drive by both terminals to provide an update.
If you are driving to the airport, you may want to allot extra time or take another route (e.g., Lindberg to Natural Bridge or whatever the back roads are called right by the airport). I would expect many people to slow down and look at the damage as they drive by, thus going slower and potentially causing accidents.
Also, within the last 30 minutes I saw two planes landing--one was Delta, the other was WN. Both were landing from the east going west.
ZakkW
In coming up to 70, you can see a bit of damage to some houses and trees on both sides of 270. Once you hit 70 east, you don't see much except blown over sides until you reach 70 and the Rock Road. From there east, the damage is awesome (not good; just severe). It has hard not to be amazed at the amount of damage done. You can clearly see it on both sides of the highway. Many of the pictures from the news look like someone pulled off of the highway and took the pictures.
By the time I reached the airport, other than some downed signs you cannot see damage from the highway. On my way home from work in a few hours, I may drive by both terminals to provide an update.
If you are driving to the airport, you may want to allot extra time or take another route (e.g., Lindberg to Natural Bridge or whatever the back roads are called right by the airport). I would expect many people to slow down and look at the damage as they drive by, thus going slower and potentially causing accidents.
Also, within the last 30 minutes I saw two planes landing--one was Delta, the other was WN. Both were landing from the east going west.
ZakkW
Apr 24, 2011, 9:46 am
#156
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The front door had not yet closed due to ground stop at ORD. Capt. had just walked up jet way. Front door was damaged when plane was torn from the jet way by the storm. Wind threw lots of debris against the plane...saw something sticking through the vertical stabilizer as we boarded a bus to take us to the B concourse.
Apr 24, 2011, 9:53 am
#157
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The front door had not yet closed due to ground stop at ORD. Capt. had just walked up jet way. Front door was damaged when plane was torn from the jet way by the storm. Wind threw lots of debris against the plane...saw something sticking through the vertical stabilizer as we boarded a bus to take us to the B concourse.
Once again thanks for the accounts.
Apr 24, 2011, 10:13 am
#158
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Aircraft Damage
One American airliner experienced a crosswind of 70 miles per hour (113 kilometers per hour) while taxiing during the storm, said Martelle. A Southwest plane on the ground was damaged when a belt loader hit the aircraft.
Southwest’s McInnis said the airline is going to look at making the necessary repairs to the aircraft before ferrying it to one of the carrier’s maintenance depots.
Four American aircraft, two Boeing 757s and two MD-80s, were damaged during the storm, Martelle said. Two of the aircraft experienced minor damage, while the other two will require more extensive repairs, such as replacing a radome and a rudder, he said.
One American airliner experienced a crosswind of 70 miles per hour (113 kilometers per hour) while taxiing during the storm, said Martelle. A Southwest plane on the ground was damaged when a belt loader hit the aircraft.
Southwest’s McInnis said the airline is going to look at making the necessary repairs to the aircraft before ferrying it to one of the carrier’s maintenance depots.
Four American aircraft, two Boeing 757s and two MD-80s, were damaged during the storm, Martelle said. Two of the aircraft experienced minor damage, while the other two will require more extensive repairs, such as replacing a radome and a rudder, he said.
Apr 24, 2011, 10:22 am
#159
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Drive By the Terminals
On my way home from work, I drove by both terminals. I saw another WN plane landing and a non-AA regional jet landing. East terminal looks busy, and a number of WN planes are on the ground.
I drove by the main terminal including passing through departures. This is the area that you have seen on the news. Clean up is well under way and lots of board are in place of broken glass. I saw a truck with a pile of additional boards to be put up. You can drive through the departure area without a problem. Even the outside luggage check people for Delta were in place.
Once you leave the departure area and head west, you see further evidence of what happened. There is no power until you are back on 70. The stop lights are replaced by stop signs. The destruction on the south side of the road is evident. Some areas are terrible, others are not so bad. You can even see a number of cars parked in the cell phone lot with windows blown out.
Oh, one last thing. If you hop on 70 at Lindberg and head east, you should be able to avoid people slowing down for a look. There is nothing much to see once you are east of Lindberg on 70. All the destruction that you can see from the highway (as per my previous posting) is, for the most part, west of Lindberg.
ZakkW
I drove by the main terminal including passing through departures. This is the area that you have seen on the news. Clean up is well under way and lots of board are in place of broken glass. I saw a truck with a pile of additional boards to be put up. You can drive through the departure area without a problem. Even the outside luggage check people for Delta were in place.
Once you leave the departure area and head west, you see further evidence of what happened. There is no power until you are back on 70. The stop lights are replaced by stop signs. The destruction on the south side of the road is evident. Some areas are terrible, others are not so bad. You can even see a number of cars parked in the cell phone lot with windows blown out.
Oh, one last thing. If you hop on 70 at Lindberg and head east, you should be able to avoid people slowing down for a look. There is nothing much to see once you are east of Lindberg on 70. All the destruction that you can see from the highway (as per my previous posting) is, for the most part, west of Lindberg.
ZakkW
Apr 24, 2011, 10:32 am
#160
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From Twitter minutes ago, the official Lambert feed:
@flystl: American Airlines will resume operations on the D Concourse Monday morning. AA will operate out of Gates D2, D4 and D6 @flystl.
Sad to see they can run ops from 3 gates, when TWA used most of the airport... times change, though.
@flystl: American Airlines will resume operations on the D Concourse Monday morning. AA will operate out of Gates D2, D4 and D6 @flystl.
Sad to see they can run ops from 3 gates, when TWA used most of the airport... times change, though.
Apr 24, 2011, 10:40 am
#161
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3 gates is going to be very hard I would imagine? Yes, def not what it used to be out here but theres lots of daily frequencies... STL-ord is almost a shuttle service
3 gates is going to be very hard I would imagine? Yes, def not what it used to be out here but theres lots of daily frequencies... STL-ord is almost a shuttle service
Apr 24, 2011, 11:04 am
#162
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I was in STL last night heading to LAX, but a tornado hit it very hard. Roof was broken, rain was just spilling in the Admirals club. I was fortunate enough to make a few friends heading all the way to SPI and I will be in LAX tmr. First time to experience a tornado in the airport ever!
Apr 24, 2011, 12:22 pm
#163
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Not sure why I didn't open this thread when I first saw it but I just read all nine pages and I never do that
but Wow.. what an event, you couldn't make this stuff up
I'm glad 1. everyone is all right and 2. everyone will be able to get out (or return) to STL really soon
thanks to the OP for posting here and of course I'm happy that you are ok
one question that keeps lurking, how did (or did they) the people on those planes get their checked luggage or anything left on the plane?
but Wow.. what an event, you couldn't make this stuff up
I'm glad 1. everyone is all right and 2. everyone will be able to get out (or return) to STL really soon
thanks to the OP for posting here and of course I'm happy that you are ok
one question that keeps lurking, how did (or did they) the people on those planes get their checked luggage or anything left on the plane?
Apr 24, 2011, 12:26 pm
#165
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The latest update from STLtoday.com:
Updated at 11:15 a.m.
As the first departing flights from Lambert-St. Louis International Airport resumed this morning, airport officials now say they expect to be operating at 60 percent of their full schedule today.
Officials are urging travelers to contact their airline for the most up-to-date flight information.
Concourse C, which was heavily damaged by Friday's tornado, remains closed.
Frontier Airlines and AirTran are now operating out of the B Concourse. American Airlines and Cape Air have moved into the once-closed D Concourse. American is not planning to restart operations until Monday morning and Cape Air on Tuesday.
MetroLink is operating at the airport as well.
As the first departing flights from Lambert-St. Louis International Airport resumed this morning, airport officials now say they expect to be operating at 60 percent of their full schedule today.
Officials are urging travelers to contact their airline for the most up-to-date flight information.
Concourse C, which was heavily damaged by Friday's tornado, remains closed.
Frontier Airlines and AirTran are now operating out of the B Concourse. American Airlines and Cape Air have moved into the once-closed D Concourse. American is not planning to restart operations until Monday morning and Cape Air on Tuesday.
MetroLink is operating at the airport as well.