Plane slides off tarmac after landing in heavy snow at Halifax airport
Passengers aboard a Porter Airlines flight spent an extra 2½ hours on the plane Wednesday night after it slid into the snow after landing at Halifax Stanfield International Airport.
The flight, which was travelling from Toronto, landed amid heavy snow conditions.
Samuel Gaboury was aboard the flight and said it landed fine, but started to slide on the runway.
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"You could feel something was wrong because it was sliding. It really was sliding and tried to take a turn and the plane decided it wasn't going, right? So, yeah, plane got off the runway or taxiway or whatever they want to call it. And yeah, we got stuck."
Gaboury said a path to the plane had to be plowed, and crews tried unsuccessfully to tow it. An initial effort to bring boarding stairs to the plane to allow passengers to get off didn't work because the stairs were "spinning out of control," he said.
After passengers waited for 2½ hours on the plane, buses arrived to transport them to the terminal. (Submitted by Samuel Gaboury via CBC News)
Eventually, crews were able to bring the stairs to the plane and passengers disembarked and boarded buses that took them to the terminal.
Gaboury said passengers didn't seem too worried or scared, and as far as he knows, everyone was safe.
He said he was surprised the plane was allowed to land, given the weather conditions at the time.
"Visibility was zero, was really, really bad.… You could barely see like a feet in front of you. The snow was so bad and the wind was so bad," Gaboury said. "I think it should have been delayed or cancelled, to be honest with you."
Runway closed overnight
A spokesperson for the airport authority said the flight "became disabled" at the end of a runway after landing and could not make its way to the terminal on its own.
Tiffany Chase said no significant injuries were reported to the airport authority.
The runway was still closed on Thursday morning, pending the plane's removal by Porter Airlines.
Some flights have been delayed or cancelled due to the storm, and passengers are encouraged to check the status of their flight, Chase said.
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This article, written by Frances Willick, was originally published for CBC News.
Thumbnail image courtesy: Samuel Gaboury via CBC News.