The flight that raced Hurricane Irma and won

Screenshot of flight radar image showing Delta flight 302 heading back to New York.

A Delta flight from New York's JFK airport managed to fly into San Juan, Puerto Rico, pull into the gate, and less than an hour later take off full of passengers - all while Hurricane Irma was bearing down on the island today.

Delta flight status data show Flight 431 left JFK at 8:12 a.m. and arrived in San Juan at 12:01pm; Delta 302 left San Juan at 12:41pm and arrived in New York at 4:22pm.

Screenshot of flight radar image showing Delta flight 302 heading back to New York.

Radar data of the plane's flight path offered a spectacular show for aviation enthusiasts who followed in real time as Delta Flight 431 headed south right into the dangerous storm before noon.

"Where others have turned back, Delta #DL431 presses on," tweeted the Flightrada22, which tracks air traffic in real time. According to the tracking data, the plane landed at Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport at 11:58am and departed at 12:43 pm as DL302.

A few flights attempted to squeak into @AeropuertoSJU ahead of Hurricane #Irma

Too late. 2x @JetBlue & 1 @AmericanAir flight turning around pic.twitter.com/ssGLh5EFCp

— Jason Rabinowitz (@AirlineFlyer) September 6, 2017

Jason Rabinowitz, a self-described aviation geek tweeted the flight's trajectory in real time, uploading images of the plane climbing out of San Juan between the outer band of Irma and the core of the storm.

"Amazing stuff," Rabinowitz said.

Delta officials said the airline operated its last scheduled flight to and from San Juan "armed with the latest forecast from the airline's meteorology team." Flight 431 arrived a minute after noon to nine miles of visibility and light rain, the airline said. Winds were well below operating limits for the 737-900ER to safely operate at around 28 mph, and gusts up to 36 mph. Flight 302 departed San Juan with 173 passengers on board, the airline said.

"Our meteorology team is the best in the business," said Erik Snell, vice president for Delta operations and customer center. "They took a hard look at the weather data and the track of the storm and worked with the flight crew and dispatcher to agree it was safe to operate the flight. And our flight and ground crews were incredible in their effort to turn the aircraft quickly and safely so the flight could depart well before the hurricane threat."