Winds force Old Dominion University football plane to land at Richmond International Airport (KRIC), Virginia

Saturday night had already been miserable for the Old Dominion football team -- the Monarchs fell at Vanderbilt, 42-28, to lose their fifth game in a row.

But early Sunday morning things turned harrowing as the charter plane returning the Monarchs from Nashville, Tenn. had to abort two attempted landings at Norfolk International Airport.

Pilots on the US Airways charter plane made one attempted landing, and pulled up because of high winds. As the plane continued to be buffeted, the second attempt was called off before the plane again approached the runway.

The plane was then diverted to Richmond, where the Monarchs sat on the runway for an hour and a half as buses that had been waiting at the Norfolk airport drove to Richmond.

The plane carried 187 passengers, including ODU president John Broderick and his wife, Kate; football coach Bobby Wilder and his wife, Pam; athletic director Wood Selig, the football team and dozens of school athletic employees and even the radio broadcast crew.

Approximately 40 ODU boosters and alumni, including Dick Fraim, the brother of Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim, were also on board.

Broderick said the plane appeared to get within about 100 feet of the runway before pulling up.

“You could see that it just wasn’t going to happen,” Broderick said. “There was just too much wind.”

“We were really getting rocked” on the first attempted landing, Selig said. “There were a lot of nervous glances.

“The pilot said he was going to try on more time, and he didn’t even come close.”

Even with the time change – clocks were set back an hour Saturday night – the ODU entourage did not arrive back on campus until 5 a.m., more than four hours later than expected.

“We’re all glad the pilot erred on the side of safety,” Broderick said. “Even on the bus ride home, you could tell how windy it was.”

Wilder said that for most of ODU’s players, it was no big deal.

“Most of the kids were sound asleep and had no idea what happened,” he said. “They slept on the plane ride to Richmond, while we waited for the buses and on the bus ride home.”

Wilder said that he shook the pilot’s hands and thanked him when the team finally departed in Richmond.

“We’re all thankful that we had an experienced pilot who knew what he was doing and avoided disaster,” he said.

Source:    http://hamptonroads.com