NoPlaneNoGain
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- Joined
- Nov 26, 2001
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Originally printed in the "Northwest Arkansas Times"
HIGHFILL — The worst flight-related incident at Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport since it opened in November 1998 occurred Tuesday. Luckily, everyone on the plane walked away unhurt after the aircraft ran off the side of the runway.
At 4:50 p.m. Tuesday, a Continental Airlines jet ran off the side of the runway, where it got stuck in soft soil, said Scott Van Laningham, executive director of XNA. The 30 passengers and additional crew on the flight from Newark, N. J., were unloaded from the plane and driven by vehicle back to the terminal. The airfield was closed until the plane was moved from the runway. "Nobody was hurt. They were scared more than anything," he said.
Asked if the incident is the worst since the airport opened, Van Laningham said it is. "Yep, it is. We’ve had one other plane, a military plane, that veered to the side (of the runway) but got back on (the runway) without getting stuck. This is the first one that’s gotten stuck," he said. "You don’t want to shut down the airfield, but we had to to move the plane. But if you’re going to have to shut down, this is the way to do it where nobody got hurt."
Van Laningham said he didn’t know what caused the plane to go off the side of the runway. If the runway is compared to a road where cars drive, it would be like a car getting stuck in the grass off the shoulder of the road.
Workers could find no structural damage, so the 50-passenger plane was pulled back onto the runway, Van Laningham said.
Asked how many operations XNA has had since it opened, Van Laningham said, "Oh my gosh, tons. We’re up to 50 scheduled flights a day now, so that’s 100 operations, but that doesn’t include private planes and charters and military touch and goes."
Rank&File said:The local newspaper claims it was "the worst accident in the history of XNA." I love how reporters fill their articles with sensationalism.
The worst flight-related incident at Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport since it opened in November 1998 occurred Tuesday.
Asked how many operations XNA has had since it opened, Van Laningham said, "Oh my gosh, tons. We’re up to 50 scheduled flights a day now, so that’s 100 operations, but that doesn’t include private planes and charters and military touch and goes."