Now there’s something you don’t see everyday. Photo : NOAA

Flying in the nor’easter: maybe don’t do it.



According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, everyone barfed on a flight out of Dulles International Airport near Washington, D.C. earlier today. Even the pilots were on the brink of puking. This is even more nightmarish than snakes on a plane.


The storm that’s bringing near-record flooding to Boston and heavy rain and snow from the Mid-Atlantic to the Northeast has also been an aviation nightmare. Flights have been canceled and delayed across the U.S. Passengers aboard a Canadair Regional Jet (a CRJ2 for my aviationheads) landing in Dulles probably wished their flight had been canceled, too. Assuming the plane was full, that’s 40-50 puking passengers and one disgusting cabin in need of a deep clean.



Justin Fenton, a crime reporter at the Baltimore Sun first called attention to the nauseating flight report filed to NOAA’s Aviation Weather Center. It notes that moderate to severe turbulence around 7:38 a.m. on Friday morning caused the basically entire cabin to lose its breakfast. Thankfully the cockpit stayed vomit-free and the flight safely landed.


“I believe every word of what they said,” Dennis Mersereau, a meteorologist and former purveyor of The Vane (RIP), told Earther. “You feel every little bump on a CRJ2 on a good day.”

The barf-worthy weather is only getting worse as the day wears on. In the last hours, Dulles has seen wind gusts up to 71 mph. More than 2,400 flights have been canceled across the country. Presumably that’s for safety reasons, but I’m sure plane cleaning crews are pretty happy about it, too.

Were you a puking passenger or one of the luckier (relatively speaking) ones to not hurl? Get in touch. We’d love (again, relatively speaking) to hear about your experience or (gulp) see any pictures from the aftermath.




[h/t Justin Fenton]