Local woman shares details of hard landing at Palm Springs airport during storm

Lianne Cooper of Rancho Mirage was on an Alaska Airlines flight from Seattle to Palm Springs on Sunday evening when the plane experienced a hard landing in the wake of Tropical Storm Hilary.

“It was a pretty hard jolt," recounted Cooper. She said the energy inside the plane turned tense when it became obvious to passengers that the pilots' first attempt to land was not going to be successful.

Cooper said the rain and wind really started to pick up as the plane was getting ready to land and forced the flight to circle a couple times before finally being able to land.  

“I saw the windmills. I knew we were coming in and then we weren’t and you could just feel the speed change and we just…we went really far out and around and the pilots were super calm," Cooper added.

After the plane landed passengers broke out in applause. Once they deboarded the plane, they were faced with wet conditions at the airport and dangerous conditions on the flooded roadways in Palm Springs and elsewhere across the valley.