While flying over a hurricane is clearly not as dangerous as flying through a hurricane, it s fair t

As Hurricane Isaac made landfall in Louisiana Wednesday, and slowly moved inland as a category 1 hurricane, the only commercial aircraft willing to fly over the hurricane appeared to be two Southwest Airlines flights school bus tours in florida according to live flight data from Flightaware.com .
While flying over a hurricane is clearly not as dangerous as flying through a hurricane, it s fair to question why Southwest was the only airline willing to fly close to the eye of the hurricane, while all other commercial aircraft re-routed away from most of the outer rainbands of the storm.
The two aircraft in question, Southwest flight 760 with service from Tampa to Houston, and Southwest flight 1835 with service from Fort Lauderdale to Austin, each flew through the strongest outer rain bands of the hurricane where severe weather existed.
Based on the flightaware.com data, SWA flight 760 flew approximentlay school bus tours in florida 40 miles north of the eye of the hurricane, while SWA flight 1835 flew less than 10 miles south of the eye. Both aircraft were above 40,000 feet altitude when flying school bus tours in florida above the storm.
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