An Allegiant Air flight had to turn around and divert when its route was blocked by heavy storms.
Flight 1150 was due to take off from Melbourne, in central Florida, around 4 p.m. on Sunday. Flight-tracking data shows it departed just over an hour late, but that would be the least of the passengers’ worries.
The 19-year-old Airbus A320 was supposed to land in Pittsburgh after roughly two hours, but a problem became apparent as it flew north.
Just before crossing into Georgia, the plane turned west and circled around to make an unplanned landing in Jacksonville.
An air traffic control recording published by LiveATC.net shows one of the Allegiant pilots referring to the flight as an “emergency aircraft.”
He also told the controller at Jacksonville that there were 179 people on board the plane.
It touched down after about 40 minutes in the air.
Allegiant Air did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent by Business Insider outside US working hours.
But a map from Flightradar24 offers a big clue as to why the plane may have diverted.
The weather radar showed severe storms across the south of Georgia and extending out into the Atlantic.
Overlaid with the path of Flight 1150, it shows the pilots narrowly avoiding the bad weather.
Also on Sunday, the National Weather Service warned of slow-moving storms and the potential for heavy flooding in Georgia.
The Weather Channel reported that at least three to five inches of rain are expected to fall in the southern parts of the state through Thursday.
Modern planes are designed with features to protect against flying through a thunderstorm, such as a copper mesh to conduct lightning charges away from key electronics.
However, bad weather can also cause severe turbulence. This can be unpredictable, with passengers not always given enough warning to put their seatbelts on.
Last Wednesday, 25 people were taken to the hospital after a Delta Air Lines flight encountered severe turbulence while flying through a thunderstorm.
Flightradar24 showed several other aircraft avoiding storms in the area, while the Delta plane appeared to fly through a rough weather patch before diverting to Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport.
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