A passenger on American Airlines flight 850 that veered off the runway on landing at Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston Thursday night shared that she encountered a series of hurdles and delays that, in normal circumstances, would have led to her not boarding the aircraft. But the woman, who asked to be identified only as Ally, said she was determined to travel to Jamaica for her boyfriend’s birthday.

According to Ally, she had originally planned to leave her home in Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday. However, after booking the flight on JetBlue, she realised that she had chosen the wrong airport.

Her attempt to have that changed proved fruitless as the airline told her she had to cancel the reservation. She agreed and enquired about the closest date for another flight. However, the next available flight would have been too late.

Therefore, with the help of her sister and cousin she went in search for another flight, and on a travel website they found American Airlines flight 850 departing Miami at 7:00 pm on Thursday.

She booked her ticket.

“When I bought the ticket I started to wonder how I was going to get to the airport because my sister had taken the day off on Wednesday to take me [to the airport] and she is working Thursday. So I checked Uber and that was like US$60, so I decided against it.”

“So my sister said she would go to work and talk to her boss about leaving early and she would take me. My flight was supposed to be 7:00 pm, so I was supposed to get to the airport for 4:00 pm. She went to work and her boss allowed her to leave at 3:00 and I was like ‘Yes, it is working in my favour, praise God’,” Ally told the Jamaica Observer.

However, Ally’s sister encountered bumper to bumper traffic on the highway on her way to pick her up, eating into their travel time to the airport. Their predicament got worse when the GPS they were using guided them to another destination that was almost 30 minutes from the airport.

By the time Ally got to the airport she was running late for the flight and, according to her, she encountered another delay trying to use one of the check-in kiosks.

She said that at 6:15 pm, when she was supposed to be boarding the aircraft, she was just clearing the security checkpoint. But again, things worked out in her favour as she learnt shortly after that the flight was delayed and would not start boarding until 7:00 pm.

Relieved, she awaited the boarding announcement, and on taking her seat inside the plane she was happy at the thought of getting to Jamaica after all she had encountered. Not even the pilot’s announcement that they would have to fly around Cuba, due to a thunderstorm, thus adding to their flying time, bothered her.

“We finally took off around 7:35 pm. We were flying for a while and I knew when we hit Cuba because there was a lot of turbulence, and the clouds were pitch black. We would have terrible turbulence and then things would smooth out only to have severe turbulence again. There was a lot of lightning and the rain on the plane window looked like a river running down,” Ally recalled.

“When we passed Cuba, I thought things would have smoothed out. They had said there was a little rain in Kingston so I wasn’t expecting anything. That’s when they started sharing out the snacks.

“I don’t know what airspace we reached [as] I started seeing lights, so I thought we were over Jamaica but that was when we really hit some more turbulence and the pilot told the flight attendants to cut the snack service short and to be seated,” Ally told the Observer.

She said sometime later the pilot instructed the flight attendants to prepare the cabin for an early landing, which raised concerns among passengers.

“That’s when the turbulence hit even more. It was nothing like we had experienced before on the flight. It felt like a roller coaster
— up, down, belly flipping, people in the back of the plane crying out,” Ally said.

“Then the pilot said we were entering Kingston airspace so now I am expecting us to land soon, but we were still in the air for a good while before I started to feel the plane descending. This was where the weather really felt like it was attacking us. It felt like the plane was being pushed sideways. I am sure it wasn’t, but the shaking was terrible. I have never experienced anything like this. I have been on planes before where there is turbulence but nothing compared to this,” she recounted.

She stated that when the plane finally hit the runway, other passengers began cheering and clapping because they were excited that the plane had made it through the terrible weather. But celebration was premature.

“I felt the plane slide,” Ally said. “When the pilot landed I felt the plane brake but then it felt like when you would water plane in a car. She was braking and it felt like it was stopping and then the plane just sped up and the people started to cry out ‘Oh God, Oh God, Jesus!’ Then I felt when the pilot let go off the brake and held it again and the plane started to slow down.”

Ally said that while others were panicking, she prayed that they would land safely and for the pilot.

Along with the other passengers, she was relieved when they eventually disembarked flight 850.

The Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority (JCAA) and American Airlines have since launched an investigation into what led to the flight veering off the runway.

A preliminary report following inspections of the aircraft and the landing strip on Friday morning revealed that damage was done to the engine and engine fan blades, hydraulic hoses, landing gear and tyres of the plane. There was also some damage to the edge lights and scouring of the verge area adjacent to the runway.

Transport Minister Daryl Vaz described the incident as serious, but expressed gratitude that there have been no reports of injuries.

He said teams from the JCAA and American Airlines visited the scene and he expected to get a further update as things unfold.

Operations at the airport were not interrupted following the incident.