Cranes Remove Delta Jet From Runway After Skidding Incident

A jetliner belonging to Delta Airlines that skidded off the runway at a New York airport due to extreme snowy conditions was being moved from the site by cranes on Friday morning. The incident occurred on Thursday but even after 24 hours, flights scheduled at the airport were being cancelled due to it.

The plane skidded off the runway as it was landing and narrowly escaped falling into the Flushing Bay. The incident injured six people and has ignited a debate among the aviation community as to when should an airport be closed due to bad weather.

New York’s LaGuardia airport was the site of the accident and on Friday morning two of its runways remained closed. There is no fixed rule in place by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), about the amount of snow or ice that can cause a runway to be closed. During extreme winter conditions, the FAA requires the airport authorities to check if the planes can properly brake on the runway. To check this, a specially designed vehicle equipped with a computer that checks braking action is sped on the runway. If the runway does not pass the test, then it is required to be closed down.

The runway in question had been plowed a few minutes before the accident occurred and other pilots had reported that the braking conditions were good. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has decided to send an investigator to ascertain what exactly went wrong with the landing and review the damage done to the plane. The flight recorder and the cockpit recorders will be handed over to the NTSB as part of the investigation.

The LaGuardia airport is known for being close to the Flushing bay and is one of the busiest airports in America. There are three more busy airports nearby and this makes landing on the airport’s runway very challenging. The pilots have to make several sharp turns before landing on LaGuardia’s runways. Apart from this, two of the airport’s runways are very short and this requires the pilots to ground their aircraftand quickly halt it.

Delta Flight 1086 was arriving in New York from Atlanta. The plane was not able to land smoothly on the slippery runway and skid until it came to a halt just a few feet away from the frozen bay. Had the plane plunged into the freezing water body, casualties could have occurred.