Allegiant Air diverts Santa Rosa flight to Stockton

An Allegiant Air flight headed to Santa Rosa on Sunday afternoon ended up diverting to Stockton after coming in low on its landing approach and unnerving residents in a neighborhood in southwest Windsor.

“It was rattling my house,” said Dana Aguero, who lives in the Vintana neighborhood south of Windsor High School. “It was really low.”

A spokeswoman for Allegiant said Monday in an email that Sunday’s Flight 125 from Las Vegas was diverted to Stockton Metropolitan Airport “due to weather.”

The return flight from Santa Rosa to Las Vegas was canceled Sunday after the aircraft on the ground in Stockton “experienced a mechanical issue, which was ultimately resolved” and when weather conditions did not improve, said spokeswoman Kim Schaefer.

The aircraft landed in Santa Rosa on Monday afternoon and later made the return trip to Las Vegas, she said.

Schaefer made no mention of the attempted landing Sunday at the Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport. But airport manager Jon Stout said the plane that the Windsor residents heard was likely the Allegiant aircraft.

“It does appear that they made the effort,” he said of the McDonnell Douglas MD-80’s attempted landing.

The Vintana residents said they are in one of the airport’s landing paths and have grown accustomed to air traffic overhead. Even so, Sunday’s attempted landing was far noisier than what they typically experience when commercial aircraft make their approaches.

Some residents suggested the engines roared as the aircraft began to regain altitude. Aguero said it sounded like the pilot “was gunning the gas to go back up.”

You can reach Staff Writer Robert Digitale at 707-521-5285 or robert.digitale@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @rdigit.