Dec
3
The first winter storm of the season has caused some headaches for travelers across the country these past couple of days. From delays, cancellations, and even incidents with planes at the airport involving the icy runways and taxiways has caused a lot of headaches. It is never a fun time traveling when the weather turns for the worse.
I have read about a couple incidents that were definitely weather related over the past couple of days. Last night, a JetBlue plane slides off the runway in Siberacuse, oops I mean Syracuse Airport. The trouble didn’t stop there when the tug came and got stuck to pull the plane back onto the taxiway. The passengers finally made it off the plane a couple hours later.
Another incident was a United Airlines flight skidded off the taxiway when taxing to the runway for takeoff to Chicago in Des Moines, IA. The plane’s right wheel slid on some ice and then sunk into the adjacent grass.
The good thing about these two incidents were that they are very minor. These winter conditions on the ground provide just as much problems for pilots as the drivers on the road. At least we don’t have to deal with everyone else on the road who can’t drive and understand the weather conditions!