My flight into Atlanta was scheduled to be the latest flight in last night- but as it turns out, nearly half of the program arrived later. A thick sheet of fog rolled over Costa Rica yesterday causing earlier flights to be diverted to Panama City and Liberia because visibility was nil. After my simulator experience, I have a new found appreciation for manual landing of an aircraft.
Fortunately, my pilot was either extremely talented or sufficiently insane to be flying the only plane that landed between 8 PM and midnight. Three unfortunate groups included: Liberia 1, Panama City, and Liberia 2 (respectively, in order of misfortune). Liberia 1 was diverted from San Jose Intl. Airport and redirected to Liberia, refueled and then retried the approach successfully to arrive to the airport at 12AM, and the homestays at 2. Panama City had a similar experience, but because of the extra distance, finally arrived to the homestays at 5AM. Keep in all participants were supposed to be settled in by 9:30 PM. The last group, Liberia 2 suffered two roller coaster-like approach attempts into San Jose, two false alarm take offs from Liberia, and finally a long bus ride to San Jose only to get to school at around 9 AM (missing out on 12 hours, 1 nights sleep, and meeting host families).
Unrelated, but suspiciously ominous when considered together, our first day of class was cut short by an explosive computer projector and an extremely unstable projector screen. Don't worry, 32 screwdriver weilding engineers dismantled and diagnosed the late projector in no time.
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