Icy taxiway causes Delta plane landing in Minneapolis to slide off pavement into snow
A Delta Air Lines plane arriving at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport Tuesday night slid off the icy taxiway and into snow.
At around 6:40 p.m. local time, the nose gear of the Delta plane went off the taxiway, according to a tweet from airport officials. The aircraft, which had been turning toward the gate, went 30 feet off the pavement into snow, according to CNN.
None of the 147 passengers on Delta Flight 1819, arriving from Cabo San Lucas in Mexico, were injured. The aircraft was deplaned with the help of buses that took the passengers from the stuck jet to the gate.
Evacuation of the passengers from the immobilized aircraft took around an hour, with the plane being extricated from the snow sometime between 9 and 10 p.m., Metropolitan Airports Commission spokesman Jeff Lea told the Star Tribune.
An hour later, freezing drizzle shut down the airport’s runways. One runway was open again by 9:15 p.m., according to the Star Tribune, and the airport was fully operating for aircraft by around 11 p.m.
