Passengers on a Delta Air Lines flight from Las Vegas to Detroit suffered an awful two-fer after a muffed landing Sunday. After they survived the fright of sitting in the plane as it careened off the runway and into the grass, they were stuck in there for two and a half hours as crews towed the plane back to where it belonged.
CNN reports Delta isn’t sure what caused the problem and is investigating. Aboard were 153 passengers and six crew members. One passenger described the odd landing as like a “toboggan ride.”
The pilot was attempting a turn onto a taxiway when the tobogganing started. Let’s hope for the passengers’ sake that the current issue of SkyMall was an excellent read.
Delta flight slides off runway in Detroit [CNN]
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Could have been worse, they could have got to Detroit 2 hours earlier
+1
Awesome
Passengers on a Delta Air Lines flight from Las Vegas to Detroit suffered an awful two-fer after a muffed landing Sunday.
Even worse, they had to go to Detroit after.
Once the slides are used, they need to have a very costly replacement. Some bean counter probably did the math and figured:
Chance of being sued for injury of people using the slide+cost of slide replacement and plane out of service=cheaper to make them wait for two hours. This only cost them rescheduling a few passengers and some drink vouchers.
I know the headline was ambiguous, but after reading the (fine) article, it looks like the plane skidded, or slid, off the runway, but the emergency slides did not deploy.
indeed…which is why they made the people wait on the plane. The airstrairs would not be stable on the grass and the only egress would be with emergency slides. The slides run about $30,000 a piece to replace and require about 1-2 hours for a proper install, meaning this could be a $100,000+ loss for the airline if they let the people off while the plane is in the grass.
one advantage to Washington Dulles are the people movers that can drive up to a plane and allow passengers to deplane directly on to a mobile lounge where they can be driven to the terminal.
Ah, got it. Good point.
I agree. +1
Hey, that was simply uncalled for.
Wait… I think…erk… it’s… catching….
WHAT!!! You take that back.
You should get disemvoweled for that… but it really wouldn’t matter
Anyone else read it as “Runaway Slide…”
Yes, that is exactly what I thought at first.
I did the same…I was thinking maybe they were in a remote log cabin or something and an actual sled went down the mountain and they were stuck with no way home.
Add me to the tally! I misread it three times in a row before figuring it out… Here I was, thinking, “but the slides didn’t deploy!” Morning reading fail.
In an emergency, anyone can legally pop the doors on an airplane (as long as your on the ground). You do not have to wait for directions from the crew, as in an emergency, the crew may not be able to give instructions.
As far as I’m concerned airplane leaving the runway and sliding down a hill is an emergency. I would have popped those suckers open in a heart beat.
No you either sit there and burn to death or wait to be trampled on in the panic if no instructions are given. If you do anything else you will be arrested.
sadly… not /s
Risk of injury staying on plane
Therefore, the plane was not evacuated.
apparently, the less than sign doesnt work….
risk of injury of staying on the plan was less than that during evacuation.
If that’s the worst thing that happens to them all year, they had a pretty good year.
Oh yeah, go on ahead and jump from the plane while waiting. Very dangerous place, Detroit is. Last time I flew out of there, there was a beheading that took place that morning. Unsuspecting ground crew walked into a prop.
LOL, when you said beheading, at first I was thinking, damn, people are getting beheaded at the Detroit airport? Has Detroit really sunk so low? Beheading is intentional decapitation, like murder or execution.
Last time I was in Detroit, a runaway baggage truck hit our plane, rolled over the wing and caught fire. Not a huge fan of flying through Detroit anymore.
Why didn’t they evacuate the passengers before towing the plane? Seems unsafe, and extremely rude and insensitive.
Probably safer to tow. Evacuations tend to result in a few broken bones. What’s really the danger of being strapped into an airplane while it’s being towed?
If my plane slid off the tarmac into the grass, there’s a potential that other planes could do the same. I’d rather wait it out on the plane, thanks.
You would rather wait it out in the plane for hours with the risk that another gigantic plane could careen down and slam into you at any moment, instead of heading out the emergency chutes and clearing the area in a few minutes?
You’re a strange one.
“After they survived the fright of sitting in the plane as it careened off the runway…” if this happened while turning off onto the taxiway, it happened at very low speed and there’s no right for the words “fright” or “careened” anywhere in this article. It happens now and again and is nothing more than an inconvenience. Tabloid level “journalism” here.
WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Let’s go up the hill!, no, runway! and do it again!
Well, in two hours you no longer have that crazy adrenalin rush, weeping, soul searching post crisis feeling, you are now bored and ready to do whatever you came to Detroit to do. Sorry.
And, on the plus side, you’re no longer scared of roller coasters.
If it wasn’t a mechanical problem, that pilot’s next job will be flying for Colgan. Of course the immediate response to any problem on an aircraft that doesn’t involve fire is to make the passengers sit and wait. How hard would it be for the airline or the airport to push some stairs up to the airplane and bring the pax to the terminal on a bus or some vans? Delta probably didn’t want to pay the extra $100 or whatever of overtime to have a ground crew take care of the pax off immediately.