World

Two Emergency Landings at Chicago's O'Hare Airport

by Jordan Yerman | December 25, 2008 at 10:57 am

467 views | 25 Recommendations | 2 comments

Chicago's O'Hare Airport is the scene of some serious holiday congestion, as Cypresso just posted... the weather has also led to two emergency-landing incidents yesterday evening.

American Airlines Flight 1544 -- an MD-80 carrying 54 passengers and a crew of five -- was taxiing into takeoff position on Runway 22-L when it hit an icy patch, said airline spokeswoman Mary Frances Fagan.

No one was hurt, Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory said.

The left tires and the nose tires slid onto the grass next to the taxiway, she said.

The passengers deplaned via the stairs and were bused back to the terminal, where arrangements were being made for their travel to their planned destination -- Reagan National Airport outside Washington, she said.

In a separate incident that occurred shortly after 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, another American Airlines MD-80 had just taken off from O'Hare carrying 76 passengers and a crew of five en route to St. Louis, Missouri, when an engine problem forced it to return, officials said.

0 See all footage | View Slideshow

Share: email story | add to any | | facebook | stumbleupon

recommend This comment thread is now closed

Albert Milliron

at 14:50 on December 25th, 2008

Air Traffic is so busy this time of year. I don't know how the air traffic controllers are able to handle the congestion

dfndr13

at 20:32 on December 25th, 2008

My job allows me access to the FAA Command Center and I can tell you that the people involved with directing our air traffic are amazing professionals. Additionally, the pilots who are using the system are also highly trained professionals. They spend countless hours in simulators to prepare for incidents such as the ones described above. While possibly startling to an aviation outsider your flight crews and air traffic controllers make these incidents the "non-events" they usually become.

As someone flying over the Christmas holiday, I'd like to take this moment to thank all the men and women involved with my trip from the front counter to the flight crew!