(CNN) -- A passenger jet preparing to take off from the airport skidded off the runway at Chicago, Illinois' O'Hare and another plane was forced to return there after engine problems were reported, officials said.
American Airlines Flight 1544 -- an MD-80 carrying 54 passengers and a crew of five -- was taxiing into takeoff position on Runway 22-L when it hit an icy patch, said airline spokeswoman Mary Frances Fagan.
No one was hurt, Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory said.
The left tires and the nose tires slid onto the grass next to the taxiway, she said.
The passengers deplaned via the stairs and were bused back to the terminal, where arrangements were being made for their travel to their planned destination -- Reagan National Airport outside Washington, she said.
In a separate incident that occurred shortly after 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, another American Airlines MD-80 had just taken off from O'Hare carrying 76 passengers and a crew of five en route to St. Louis, Missouri, when an engine problem forced it to return, officials said.
"We were about maybe a minute or two into the flight, and we heard a loud bang that we thought was landing gear," one passenger told CNN affiliate WLS. "But then the plane kind of tilted a little bit and shuddered a little bit, and then the pilot came on about 10 seconds later and said our right engine had gone out, had blown, and we were going to turn around and make an emergency landing back at O'Hare."
The woman said she has canceled her plans to visit her sister in Arkansas for Christmas and decided to remain in Chicago instead.
"Now we're going to go home and go to bed, I think, because it was pretty scary," she said.
No comments:
Post a Comment