A “mystery tour” to the Mississippi Delta became even more mysterious Tuesday when the plane was unexpectedly diverted to Greenwood-Leflore Airport.
Nomads Inc., a travel club based in Detroit, hosts a special mystery tour, a trip the participants sign up for without knowing their ultimate destination. As it turned out, they landed in a place not even the organizers expected to end up.
“We were supposed to fly into Greenville,” said Capt. Eric Santina, director of operations. “Due to the weather conditions, we had to divert the flight to (Greenwood-Leflore Airport).”
According to Jim Waltress, general manager of Greenwood Aviation, Ltd., it had been years since the airport had seen a plane the size of a 727 that was meant to fly back out of the airport.
“We have the airport boneyard next door; they get a big plane about once or twice a month,” Waltress said. “We can get the resources needed for a passenger jet, but they aren’t necessarily readily available.”
Waltress said the aviation business has declined significantly over the past year, and he was not dismayed by the unscheduled landing.
“I was overjoyed to see some activity at this airport,” Waltress said. “It’s fun. That’s why I do this for a living.”
According to Waltress, the 727 was diverted because of visibility obstruction at the Greenville airport and an instrument landing system (ILS) that was out of service. He said Greenwood-Leflore Airport was the nearest site with an ILS available.
There also were other concerns, such as the possibility of hydroplaning over standing water on the runway in Greenville.
Santina said there were no problems landing the plane at the smaller airport.
“The runway is a little shorter, and it lacks some of the services of larger airports, but things went smoothly,” Santina said.
The Nomad traveling group was bused to The Alluvian, where they were scheduled to stay anyway. Santina said they were making arrangements for them to eat at Greenwood restaurants.
Dariusz Wesolowski, vice president and director of travel for Nomads Inc., said the plan change doesn’t matter much, because the participants didn’t know where they were going from the start.
“We did this trip with another group last week,” he said. “We’ve added some more stops to make the trip even more exciting.”
The group will visit the B.B. King Museum, Cottonlandia Museum, the Viking Cooking School and other Delta attractions.
“The last group was very excited,” Wesolowski said. “The hotel was spectacular, the weather was beautiful and they loved the cooking school.”
Nomads Inc. is a travel club of about 5,000 members. Wesolowski said they take between 45 and 50 trips per year, mostly domestic.
