News
Plane Overshoots Runway At Columbus International Airport
By: Associated Press
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A plane overshot the runway this morning at the Port Columbus International Airport, narrowly avoiding a potentially dangerous crash.
The red-eye flight was headed to Columbus from Los Angeles when it encountered severe turbulence upon descent. The pilot attempted to turn the plane around at the end of the runway to avoid running off the landing strip, resulting in the front of the plane veering off into the grass.
Passenger Brooks Jarosz, a former WOUB reporter and current anchor for WSAZ, was on the flight when the plane made its landing.
“We were flying down the runway, you could feel the pilot put on the breaks, it was almost as if the plane was hydroplaning, water spraying up in the windows and you could barely hear anything.” Jarosz said.
The pilot ordered passengers to fasten their seatbelts upon encountering severe turbulence.
Despite the severity of the situation, Jarosz described the scene on the plane as calm.
“Nobody was panicked or overly emotional about it. We all thought ‘what happened?’ and started looking around and the next thing we know the captain came on and apologized and said ‘we just ran out of room to stop,” he said.
Emergency crews inspected the plane before using ladders to evacuate the passengers. Officials filed passengers onto buses a dozen at a time until all of the passengers had exited the plane. There was no damage found to the plane.
“I think in the split second people thought, ‘oh, he’s not going to stop’ and thankfully we did.” Jarosz said.