(Newswire.net — March 6, 2015) — New York, DC. – A Delta Air Lines jetliner with 125 passengers and five crew members aboard slid off the runway upon landing during a snowstorm at New York’s LaGuardia Airport on Thursday, Reuters reported. There were no serious injuries, according to officials.
After a morning flight from Atlanta, Delta flight 1086 was landing in New York the airline told Reuters. After touching down on the icy runway, the captain activated the revers thrusters and extended the airbrakes, however, it didn’t slow the jet enough to leave the runway safely. As the end of the runway was approaching and the groundspeed dropped below 100mph, it was safe to apply the wheel brakes. However, as the captain stepped on the brakes, the 64,000 pound Delta MD-88 slid just past the edge of the runway.
Most of the worlds airports have grass a few hundred yards after the runway ends. The LaGuardia runway, however, ends into the ocean. Luckily, the airplane lost enough speed so that it stopped after crashing into the protective fence, leaving the cockpit hanging out above the icy water.
Emergency officials helped 127 passengers and the five crew members off the plane just after 11:00 local time (16:00 GMT), and no one was seriously injured.
Images from local media showed the Delta plane on a snowy runway area with its nose smashed into a fence at the edge of Flushing Bay. Luckily, the snow detained the sparks that could have ignited a fuel spill caused by the accident so a fire didn’t occur. The fuel spill has been quickly contained, local media said.
Soon after the incident the LaGuardia’s runways were closed, which is a routine procedure the Federal Aviation Administration said.
Delta said it would work with all authorities to look into what happened. According to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the US National Transportation Safety Board investigates the incident. Routers reported the airline’s shares were down 2.3 percent at $44.11 on Thursday afternoon trading.
“I felt for sure that we were going into that water. Thankfully, we did not,” a passenger who identified himself as Aaron Smith wrote on Twitter.
It wasn’t the first time airplanes have slipped across the icy runway at LaGuardia, the smallest of three New York City area Airports.
Reportedely, on March 2, 1994, Continental Airlines flight 705 bound for Denver aborted takeoff during a snowstorm and slid off the runway into a ditch. There were no fatalities, although 29 people were injured.
Two years earlier, USAir Flight 405 headed for Cleveland crashed during a snowy takeoff at LaGuardia, killing 27 of the 51 people on board. The crash was later blamed on icing on its wings, Reuters reported.