O'Hare

Chicago-Bound United Plane Slides Off O'Hare's Runway

Amidst hundreds of Chicago flight cancellations due to a snowstorm, a plane with about 129 passengers onboard flying in from Phoenix slid off O’Hare’s runway Saturday morning, according to CFD officials.

A Chicago-bound United Airlines plane flying in from Phoenix slid off O’Hare’s runway Saturday morning and into the grass area, CFD said.

About 129 passengers were onboard and though no injuries were reported, authorities said, all were deplaned onto busses.

"The Chicago Department of Aviation and our partners at the Chicago Fire Department responded immediately to an incident involving a plane that exited the runway at O'Hare International Airport," read a United Airlines statement. 

"Runway 4R/22L conditions have been operational with aircraft landing safely and without incident this morning, and had just received a conditions inspection at 11am (30 minutes prior to the incident)."

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Passengers said the landing appeared to be normal, then suddenly things took a turn for the worse. 

"It was like any other landing, but then there was a bit of jerking, and all of the sudden we looked out the window and there was kind of a snowdrift that we had gone into," passenger Ashley Packer said. 

Parts of the Chicago area woke up to more than 8 inches of snow Saturday morning as a winter storm continued to barrel down on northern Illinois.

Travellers are advised to check on their flight status before heading to the airport.

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