November 5, 2019 A Different Windy City

The Liberty Gazette

November 5, 2019

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: When high winds hit New York City in mid-October, many flights were delayed or canceled. The average delay was just over four hours for those who had not yet departed for New York. For those enroute, the average hold time in the air was 44 minutes. Flights operated with smaller aircraft that have less capability for landing in high crosswinds were nixed altogether. Those mostly were coming from cities closer to New York, whereas larger aircraft are used for longer distances. And how did I come by the details of this not uncommon scenario at this particular time? Mom’s bucket list.

Mom said the last thing she wanted to be sure she did before she leaves this life was to go to the top of the World Trade Center with her three daughters. She wanted a “ladies-only” weekend trip to New York City where we could have a slumber party in a hotel on Times Square and take in Manhattan. I’ll do anything for my mom. Even that.

My sister Diane flew from Bellingham to Seattle, and then took a direct flight from Seattle to JFK on a Boeing 737-900. The crosswinds at JFK were reported to be straight out of the west at 29 knots, gusting to 37. The runways are oriented northeast-southwest, and northwest-southeast. Just picture an X. Those are the options for landing. With the wind coming from straight west, no matter which runway you pick, you have a crosswind. However, it wouldn’t be a direct 90-degree crosswind, since you’d be angled one way or another. Using the highest number, 37-knot gusts, the indirect crosswind came to about 28.3 knots at JFK. That number is well within the 737-900’s capabilities, as long as the runway is dry and in good condition.

However, Mom and my sister Barbara were coming from Indianapolis, a much shorter distance. Their chariot was an Embraer 175. The maximum crosswind of this aircraft is about 7 or 8 knots less, putting them much closer to their limitation. With the forecast calling for continued high winds throughout the night, the airline canceled that flight.

And here I was, heading to Bush Intercontinental, for a flight I knew would be delayed, but on an aircraft I knew could land there.

Long story shortened, we all made it. Mom and Barbara caught a different flight, and I was the last one in, arriving around 1:00 a.m.

Mom won’t be deterred, so we got up early enough to walk Central Park and experience the famous Russian Tea Room, one of Mom’s favorite places. The rest of the weekend included seeing Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway—in Yiddish; dinner at the exclusive Patsy’s Italian Restaurant (where Frank Sinatra had his own spot), and we even scored one of the five tables in the Sinatra Room; and lunch at the top of the World Trade Center, the impetus for this trip.

Mom was determined to take part in the victory of being American, rising from the ashes, no matter which way the wind blows.

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