116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Eastern Iowa Honor Flight canceled due to fog
The Gazette
Sep. 19, 2017 11:02 am, Updated: Sep. 19, 2017 8:12 pm
CEDAR RAPIDS - Due to heavy fog this morning, organizers of the Eastern Iowa Honor Flight canceled today's trip to Washington, D.C.
The flight was to depart this morning from The Eastern Iowa Airport, but the fog prevented the charter aircraft from landing in Cedar Rapids to pick up the veterans and chaperones.
The National Weather Service said dense fog over much of Eastern Iowa, northeast Missouri and west central Illinois was expected to dissipate by 11 a.m. Visibility was reported at a quarter mile or less, according to reports.
'The trip was canceled with the primary reason being the safety, health and well-being of our veterans,” George Rickey, Honor Flight public relations and media coordinator, said in a news release. 'We had been given an estimate of the aircraft arriving here by possibly 10:30 a.m., which after loading and takeoff would have resulted in us not being able to land in Washington until approximately 2 to 2:30 p.m. That would have resulted in an extremely shortened day and with it getting darker sooner, could have posed risks to the veterans and guardians.”
Rickey said after allowing the mandatory rest time for the flight crew, it was anticipated the flight would not have returned to Cedar Rapids until 3:30 a.m. Wednesday.
'We will begin working on trying to reschedule, and work with the veterans on the flight,” he said. 'This is the first time we have ever had to cancel a flight, and it was a painful decision for us to make, but it had to be done for the safety and well-being of the veterans.”
Rickey advised area residents not to show up at the airport tonight for the traditional welcome home reception.
Pam Hinman, director of marketing and communications at The Eastern Iowa Airport, said the fog delayed some other early morning flights, but as visibility increased into the morning, flight schedules returned to normal.
The forecast for tonight and Wednesday calls for a chance of thunderstorms, with increasing likelihood by Wednesday night, according to the National Weather Service. There is a low chance a few of these storms could be severe with large hail and damaging winds.
Unseasonably warm temperatures will combine with increasing humidity to produce heat index readings in the low- to mid-90s from Wednesday afternoon through at least Friday afternoon, the National Weather Service reports. Mostly sunny to sunny skies are expected Thursday through Saturday.
Temperatures in the Cedar Rapids area are expected to be in the mid- to upper-80s and low-90s.
Rickey said today's flight was to transport 89 veterans - one from World War II, 29 from Korea and 59 from Vietnam - and 162 total passengers to Washington, D.C.
He said those planning to make the trip gathered early this morning at the airport.
Among them was John St. John, 73, of Cedar Rapids, who served in the U.S. Army from 1965 to 1967 and was planning to make the trip with three of his brothers who also served - Tom St. John of Marion and Larry 'Joe” St. John and Elmer St. John, both of Clarence.
John St. John said two of his nephews also planned to travel as chaperones and he planned to meet up with his son, who works at the Pentagon, in Washington, D.C.
He said he is disappointed, but understands why the flight was canceled.
'Hy-Vee offered us breakfast, so that was good,” he said. 'Other than that, we'll just have to wait and see what happens.”
Rickey said Honor Flight organizers plan to meet later this week to talk about possibly rescheduling the flight for later this year. He said those who were to fly today will be offered a chance to fly on the rescheduled flight and if that date doesn't fit their schedules they'll be offered a seat on a later flight.
The next scheduled Honor Flight is Oct. 17, but it is fully booked. It is the last of four flights scheduled this year.
Founded in 2009, Eastern Iowa Honor Flight to date has offered 28 trips to Washington, D.C., transporting 2,393 veterans.
Rickey said last September's flight also was impacted by fog, but ended up departing two hours late.
'We still had a normal tour and the veterans got to see the sites in D.C.,” he said.