A plane skidded off an icy runway and into the snow at JFK Sunday, prompting a temporary closure of the entire airport, still reeling from days of weather-related cancellations.
Thankfully, no one was hurt when Delta Connections Flight 4100 from Toronto arrived on runway No. 22L shortly before 8 a.m.
“As the aircraft was exiting the runway onto a taxiway, it slid into the snow,” said FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen. “No injuries were reported to the FAA. The FAA is investigating.”
There were 35 people on board the CRJ2 craft, which was towed into the gate about 1 ¹/₂ hours later.
“It could have been a lot worse,” said a relieved Jordan Houlton, a third-row passenger aboard Flight 4100. “We all got out alive and unharmed.”
Rescuers from the Port Authority’s Police Crash Fire Rescue Unit responded to Taxiway J after receiving calls from passengers trapped on the craft, law-enforcement sources said.
The first responders shoveled snow away from around the plane’s wheels before it was towed.
The airport was closed for two hours so workers could put salt and sand on runways, because of the freezing rain, officials said.
The Delta passengers were crammed into JetBlue’s Terminal 5, where Port Authority cops spent much of their Sunday “responding to many calls at the terminal for fights, intoxicated people and crowding conditions,” according to a PA source who called it “JetBlue Armageddon.”
“The place was packed this morning,” said Madelyn Vitamia, 23. “People were fighting each other about getting in line. People were yelling from the balcony.”
JetBlue said the airline couldn’t avoid cancellations, because delays often pushed crews beyond the number of hours they’re allowed to work in one day.