Corporate jet skids off runway, ends up in Sugar Land
creek
The pilot landed the plane but could not stop in time.
Two pilots of
a small corporate jet walked away after their plane skidded off the runway and
ended up in a creek.
The aircraft, an Embrarer Phenom, landed at Sugar
Land Regional Airport at 10:13 a.m, but then had trouble stopping, according to
spokesperson Patricia Pollicoff.
As the runway was ending, Pollicoff said
the pilot attempted to make a U-turn to keep the plane on the pavement. But it
slid tail-end first off the runway and into nearby Oyster Creek.
Both the
Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board
will be investigating the incident.
Local pilots immediately had their
own questions about what happened, like why the plane landed with a tailwind
given the wet runway conditions.
"We always try to land into the wind,"
said pilot Mark Lasch.
"The fact that he landed with the wind, you need
much more braking distance because you're coming in much hotter, much faster, so
I'm sure that had something to do with it," Lasch said.
It isn't the
first Embraer corporate jet to skid off a rain-soaked runway. Another aircraft
slid into the grass at the end of a Conroe Regional Airport runway in
September.
Sources close to the investigation told KHOU 11 News that
investigators will be looking into the braking ability of these types of
aircraft in light of the two incidents.
Pilot instructor Eric Newman said
wet runways are always a concern for aircraft with wheel-braking systems, rather
than reverse-engine thrusters.
"Usually on a wet runway we like to
multiply the distance by two to make sure we have enough runway to land," Newman
said.
"If the book says it's going to take 2500 feet to stop we'll say
we're going to need 5,000 feet to stop on a wet runway," Newman
said.
Pollicoff said the pilot and co-pilot walked away after the landing
with no injuries. According to FlightAware, the aircraft was coming from Hobby
Airport and landed in Sugarland reportedly to pick up a passenger.
As of
press time, the Embraer Phenom jet was still stuck in the creek, with no word on
how long it would take to pull out and haul away.
The owner, a firm out
of Utah, will have to pay for the removal according to an FAA spokesperson.
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