Passenger recounts ‘terrifying’ experience on plane landing at KCI amid storm Wednesday

Sarah Saulsbury was on a plane landing at Kansas City International Airport amid widespread thunderstorms, destructive winds and wildfire smoke Wednesday evening.

“Everyone around me on the plane was frankly terrified and making peace with their god,” Saulsbury said in a phone interview Thursday, recounting her arrival from Oakland, California, on a trip to visit her son in Lawrence.

As her connecting Delta flight from Salt Lake City took off, the pilot immediately warned that they would be flying into high turbulence. Snacks and beverages would not be handed out.

The first part of the flight was smooth, but the last half hour was when things got progressively worse, Saulsbury said.

“It felt like being in a cocktail shaker.”

As the turbulence started, everyone tried to stay cool, Saulsbury said. But then a collective anxiety started to build in the cabin as the jerks and jolts of the plane worsened.

“There was lots of motion, none of it was pleasant,” Saulsbury said. “The plane was jolting and rolling, and I was trying to stay calm and some people were freaking out.”

That afternoon in Kansas City, arriving flights were being delayed at and diverted from the Kansas City International Airport amid intensely high winds and strong storms that are being felt across the metropolitan area.

At one point air traffic controllers were instructed to leave the control tower as a safety precaution, airport officials announced.

Much of the Kansas City metro area was under a severe thunderstorm warning and a tornado watch. Kansas City saw howling winds with damaging gusts throughout Wednesday. In western Kansas, schools and roads were closed as strong winds created a “wall of dust.”

On Saulsbury’s flight, the man across the aisle from her grew increasingly panicked, she said. He started saying that he couldn’t breathe and he was sure he was having a stroke. Saulsbury reached out to hold his hand to try to calm him down.

“I’m usually the biggest wimp on the plane, I’m not going to claim I was stoic, but it helped to step into the reassuring role and you calm yourself down too,” Saulsbury said.

She heard sharp gasps, little cries and ahhs from other passengers with each lurch or sudden drop the plane took. It was impossible to see anything out the window.

The captain was silent for most of that part of the flight so the passengers didn’t have a sense of what was going on or how far they were from KCI, Saulsbury said.

“The flight crew was very cool through it all, they never made an announcement to put your head between your knees and kiss your ass good-bye,” she said.

The last few moments before the plane landed were the worst, everyone’s knuckles white as they clung to their seats for dear life, Saulsbury said.

The plane erupted in cheers and cries of relief the second the wheels touched the ground.

As she walked out of the terminal, the strong winds were blowing in smoke from the fires out in central Kansas. The smoke was as thick as air and stung Saulsbury’s eyes.

The thunderstorms and high winds caused widespread damage across several states, including Kansas, Missouri, Colorado and Iowa. In the Kansas City metro area, power lines, utility poles and trees came down with the wind.

“We were all really grateful to be on the ground,” Saulsbury said.

“I’m just really amazed the flight crew could fly into this kind of weather. I’m grateful to Delta for getting me here safely.”

This story was originally published December 16, 2021 at 6:39 PM.