Question of the Day!

In the winter of 1986 or early spring of '87, I had flown on an airbus down to Minneapolis for a job possibility with Northwest Airlines. The next day they flew us back home; the plane I was on with about eight others was supposed to land in Grand Rapids Minnesota. But before we arrived, snow had shut the airport down so we headed to Detroit Lakes. Again shortly before we arrived, the airport there closed do to the severe blizzard sweeping across the state.

Our next location and one of the few left we had fuel to reach was in Park Rapids. The plane continued on as as I watched from my widow seat I noticed ice forming on the wings. As the ice became thicker our flying carriage flew lower, and lower. By the time we reached Park Rapids, there was no choice except set the iced up and almost out of fuel plane down on what we all hoped was the runway. The snow was deep on the runway, it was blowing so hard by this time visibility was near zero, and we were told to hold on and brace for impact.

The pilot managed to land the plane, the landing gear worked great for stopping the plane, and we all got to spend a night in a close, small town airport until ground transportation could get to us. On the bright side, the plane skidded to rest about ten feet from the terminal. On the down side, it was in the parking lot, not the runway side.