LaGuardia removes battered Delta plane, reopens runway
New York's LaGuardia airport reopened a runway Friday that was shut down after a Delta airliner veered off the pavement upon landing and plowed into snow-covered embankment on Thursday, the Port Authority said.
Runway 13-31 -- one of two serving the airport -- was reopened after cranes in the early morning removed the MD-88 plane that had come to rest only a few feet from Flushing Bay.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey operates major airports in the New York metropolitan area.
The plane carried 127 passengers and six crew members on a flight from Atlanta, but only six people suffered minor injuries in the incident.
Most passengers evacuated the plane over one wing after the emergency chute failed to open.
One passenger, Isamel Lateef, 29, of Greensboro, N.C., was convinced that the plane would end up in the bay, the Daily News reports.
"I saw us quickly approaching the water," he said. "I'm thinking, 'Get ready to swim.' It was survival mode. (The plane) wobbled a lot, a lot. We're grateful we didn't get in the water."
The plane, landing in snowy conditions, veered off the 7,000-foot runaway about halfway down the pavement, rammed through a fence and came to rest on the edge of the icy waters of the bay.
The National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigation the incident, planned to retrieve the plane's flight data and cockpit voice recorders.