Mike Pence is “really grateful” no one was injured Thursday night when the plane carrying him skidded off the runway on a landing in New York.
The Boeing 737 was carrying 37 people, including campaign staffers, press and flight crew, when it landed at LaGuardia Airport on a wet runway in cloudy conditions. Those on board couldn’t see a thing, but knew something was wrong as the plane veered off the runway and then came to a stop.
“We just immediately felt heavy braking on the runway and the plane fishtailed a little bit,” Pence said on Good Morning America Friday. “Just for a few seconds you could feel us bouncing off and with mud splattered up on the windows we figured we were off the runway.”
“It was about ten seconds of uncertainty as we landed…” said Mike Pence of his plane incident on @CBSThisMorning https://t.co/CAyFmVHl8U pic.twitter.com/59ZDcW2KIZ
— CBS News (@CBSNews) October 28, 2016
“I didn’t know what the end of it was going to be. Are we going to stop in the water? Are we going to stop in the grass? Are we going to hit something? … What’s the end game here?” another passenger told Politico.
One passenger tweeted footage of the reaction captured just as the plane came to a halt.
Video after Pence campaign plane skids off runway at LaGuardia–> pic.twitter.com/BIKLTWSDGQ
— Vaughn Hillyard (@VaughnHillyard) October 28, 2016
The plane was evacuated after it came to a halt in the grass, after it tore through two tracks of concrete. The Federal Aviation Administration attributed the successful stop to crushable concrete runway safety technology. The passengers were greeted by first responders.
A man speaks on his phone after inspecting a campaign plane that had been carrying U.S. Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence after it skidded off the runway while landing in the rain at LaGuardia Airport in New York, October 27, 2016. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
Mud is seen on the side of a campaign plane that had been carrying U.S. Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence and skidded off the runway while landing in the rain at LaGuardia Airport in New York, October 27, 2016. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
“Pence was actually chatting up the first responders, he was really calm, freaking unflappable the entire time,” one of the passengers told Politico.
“You really didn’t know the gravity of it until you got outside and saw the damage that it did,” another added.
Send tips to rachel@
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.