Plane slides off the runway at Midway.

[gn85]

Plane just slid off the runway at Midway.  Southwest flight just slid off the runway at Midway.  Landed in heavy snow, slid thru a fence and hit a car.

So far they're saying one injury and that was the person in the car.

[Felix/FFDS]

I do'nt want to be the one that has to clean up the mess in the car ...  at least *I* would have made a mess if I'd seen a 737 barreling towards ME!

[ozzy72]

Reminds me of the private jet that landed at Northolt and ended up in the side of a van on the A40 a few years back, the driver of that van needed an undie change!

[JackieAdkins]

just read the story and a 6 yo boy was killed, very sad news.

story here
http://tulsa.cox.net/cci/newsnational/n ... =D8ECJA0O1

jackie

[ozzy72]

Gosh you are quick today Jackie, I'd just read the same thing and was about to post it!

[Boss_BlueAngels]

That's really sad....


But could you imagine being the driver of the car?  

"So sir, how did you hit that 737"

"He was in my blind-spot... honest!"  

[gn85]

I wonder if they had any traffic cams at that intersection or red light cameras.  

Very sad indeed that a child lost his life.

So what does everyone think of using these small airports in the middle of urban areas?

[Fly2e]

Here is the end of the runway and the fence that The Southwest Jet went through.
This is the FlyTampa Midway scenery add on.

Funny, when I took this shot a few weeks ago, I was thinking about what might happen if a plane came through that fence.

[elite marksman]

I was under the impression that there was a sand pit at the end of all runways in case the brakes fail, or catch fire, magnesium is a pain in the arse to put out. And my other question, why was the plane landing? Wouldn't it have made more sense to divert it south of the storm so that it landed on a wet runway, not an icy one?

[Hagar]

There are unfortunately many airports like this with a main road at the end of the runway. Southamptom (Eastleigh) springs to mind & the main runway stops just short of the busy M27 motorway at one end. I think there have been one or two incidents in the past but I'm not sure about casualties. It's one of those things & if you want easy access to the airport I can't see there's much anyone could do about it. Some do have traffic lights to prevent traffic crossing the ends of the runway in use & at a military airfield near where I live the main runway actually crossed the road, rather like a railway crossing. This airfield is no longer in use & the runway has long since disappeared. I seem to remember seeing something similar at a civil airport in Gibraltar or somewhere like that.

Tragic that a child was killed in this incident & I'm sorry to hear that.

[beefhole]

And my other question, why was the plane landing? Wouldn't it have made more sense to divert it south of the storm so that it landed on a wet runway, not an icy one?

Runway conditions at the time of landing were reported as being 'acceptable' for normal operations.

[PlutonianEmpire]

I noticed on CNN that the 737 had winglets. What series was that plane? I once rode such a 737 a few years ago when on a trip with my friends to check out a college in Washington DC.

[Nexus]

The aircraft was a Boeing 737-700NG, it was just a year old or so (delievered in 2004)

[Craig.]

I seem to remember seeing something similar at a civil airport in Gibraltar or somewhere like that.

Gibraltar still has the main road that crosses the runway.

[Hagar]

Gibraltar still has the main road that crosses the runway.

Thanks Craig. I wasn't too sure but know I've seen it. Come to think of it I can't think of any airports or even smaller airfields that don't have a road of some description running past the end of at least one of the runways. It's just a matter of bad luck if a car is in the wrong spot when these rare accidents happen.