CHICAGO — The snowy conditions in Chicago Wednesday morning caused a Boeing 737-900 plane to skid slightly off the runway at O'Hare Airport, officials said.
FAA Spokesman Lynn Lunsford said United Flight 1977 from Seattle slid off Runway 27-Right while landing at O’Hare around 7:55 a.m., and that the agency is investigating. The plane damaged airfield lights and has been towed to the gate.
No one was injured in the incident.
"The aircraft landed safely," United Airlines spokesman Charlie Hobart said. "Due to the conditions, the aircraft could not negotiate the runway's turnoff point, but didn't leave pavement. I'm seeing some reports out there that it skidded off the runway or it ended up in the grass, or whatever, but that didn't happen.
"It basically went somewhat beyond the turnoff point to the taxiway, but it didn't leave the pavement. We towed the aircraft to the gates."
Hobart said the airline was working with passengers who had connecting flights to get them to their final destination, but O'Hare has been experiencing long delays since earlier this week due to weather. Most incoming flights were delayed at least an hour as of Wednesday morning due to snow.
The FAA said it's investigating the United flight incident.
One passenger, who live-tweeted the incident, said everyone was off the plane as of 10 a.m.
— eagle raider (@angiostud) December 30, 2015
This has been a @UnitedAirlines nightmare. Flight delayed 2 1/2 hours and we slid off the runway.
— eagle raider (@angiostud) December 30, 2015For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here:
