Plane carrying VP candidate Pence skids
off NY runway, no injuries
Send a link to a friend
[October 28, 2016]
By Lucas Jackson
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A plane carrying U.S.
Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence skidded off the runway
after landing in the rain at New York City's LaGuardia Airport on
Thursday, halting flights for at least an hour, officials said.
No one was injured in the incident which occurred less than two weeks
before the U.S. presidential election, crucial campaign days for Pence
and running mate Donald Trump.
Pence pledged to hit the campaign trail again on Friday.
"So thankful everyone on our plane is safe," the Indiana governor said
on Twitter after the incident. "Grateful for our first responders & the
concern & prayers of so many."
The Boeing 737 was coming in for a landing and went off the runway at
about 7:40 p.m. local time (2340 GMT). The plane was stopped by a
crushable type of concrete runway that arrested the aircraft's movement,
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Jim Peters said.
The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board said they will
investigate the cause of the incident.
Trump called his running mate before a rally in Geneva, Ohio.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Oct/28/images/ads/current/charrons_bch041713.png)
"I just spoke to Mike Pence and he's fine," Trump told the crowd at the
rally. "The plane skidded off the runway and was pretty close to grave,
grave danger.”
Trump and Pence have slipped in the polls in recent weeks, in part due
to negative public reaction to the release of a decade-old video in
which Trump made lewd comments about women and said he could grab them
by their genitals because he was a celebrity.
Since then, numerous women have come forward to say that they were
groped by Trump, claims that he has denied.
On Thursday, Pence had been scheduled to attend a fundraiser at Trump
Tower in Manhattan, but was not able to make the event after his plane
slid off the runway, a campaign aide said.
Pence will resume his normal schedule Friday using a different plane,
the aide said.
[to top of second column] |
![](../images/102816pics/news_I17.jpg)
Men inspect a campaign plane that had been carrying U.S. Republican
vice presidential candidate Mike Pence after it skidded off the
runway while landing in the rain at LaGuardia Airport in New York,
U.S.,October 27, 2016. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
![](../images/ads/current/richardson_lda_090916.png)
Live television footage showed Pence standing in the rain near the
plane among emergency vehicles, talking to police and other
officials.
Trump's opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton, on Twitter said she was
glad Pence and the rest of the passengers and crew were safe.
There were about 30 people onboard the plane, including Pence's
wife, Karen, and daughter Charlotte, MSNBC said.
The plane was coming from Fort Dodge, Iowa, where Pence had
participated in a campaign event.
The takeoff from Iowa was delayed for about two hours because of bad
weather in New York. Pence had earlier posted on Twitter a picture
of himself playing football in the bright sun on grass near his
plane in Iowa, citing the delay in leaving for New York.
In 2015 a Delta Air Lines Inc jet landing during a snowstorm at
LaGuardia Airport slid off the runway and struck a fence before
coming to rest on a snow-covered embankment just feet from the
frigid waters of Flushing Bay.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Aug/26/images/ads/current/directory_buttons.png)
(Additional reporting by Eric Beech, Mohammad Zargham and Ginger
Gibson in Washington; Steve Holland in Geneva, Ohio; Rory Carroll
and Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Writing by Sharon Bernstein;
Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |