Brent, Tammy, and I flew back Monday after two previous flight cancellations. The flight was plagued with turbulence most of the way back, especially once we were nearing Raleigh. We also couldn’t see anything for much of the duration in the air as we were traveling in clouds most of the way.

Our landing, however, was the big deal. We were barely over the runway when visibility returned. Everyone was staring out the windows to see what was below. Underneath us was the landing strip, but directly above the runway was a thick layer of solid ice.

People were panicking — there were a few screams and a several people’s hearts raced as we made our approach. The aircraft touched down to the start of a bumpy landing, only to be followed up by a long slide as the plane lost control and began rotating towards the left as we slid down the icy runway. After it started sliding sideways, it began to roll to the left as well. People were panicking even more.

Thankfully, the pilots were able to regain control of the plane and set it upright and straight, but in stopping, we continued to skid with loss of control.

It was very a very stupid thing for American Airlines to fly (and land) in those conditions. Our plane almost crashed thanks to the airline’s irresponsible decision to fly in such severe weather.

I’m glad we all were fine after such an event. I know for a fact that several people on that plane were earnestly praying, and I’m glad that our prayers were answered with a lucky landing (we were very close to a crash).