Plane Skids Off Runway at LaGuardia Airport, Crashes Into Fence

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   A passenger jet skidded off a runway at LaGuardia Airport and crashed into a fence as it tried to land amid a blinding wintry mix Thursday morning, sparking a fuel leak in one of its wings and prompting evacuations, Port Authority officials and sources familiar with the situation tell NBC 4 New York. 

At least 125 passengers, including Giants tight end Larry Donnell, and five crew members were on Delta flight 1086, an MD-88 headed to New York from Atlanta, Georgia, when it slid off the runway around 11 a.m., authorities said. The impact caused a fuel leak on the plane's left wing, a Port Authority source said; the extent of the damage was not clear but the leak was not believed to be significant.

 

No major injuries were reported, the Port Authority said, though at least two people were seen being taken to the terminal on stretchers and one was taken to the hospital, the FDNY said. LaGuardia runways were shut down immediately after the accident and the city's Office of Emergency Management said all incoming and outgoing flights had been suspended until further notice. 

About 3 inches of snow had fallen in New York at the time of the accident, but wind, sleet and snowflakes combined to hamper visibility and make paved surfaces slippery. NBC 4 New York meteorologists say freezing fog was observed near LaGuardia around 11 a.m., which likely coated the already snow-topped runways with an icy glaze and may have contributed to the accident.

 

Air traffic control asked ground crews about the conditions of the runway the Delta flight was approaching, Runway 13, about half an hour prior to the scheduled landing, according to audio logs from LiveATC.net.

They advised air traffic control that there was about a quarter inch of wet snow on the runway and a snow bank about a foot high. The tower repeated the conditions back.