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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.