A ground stop was in place at Boston’s Logan International Airport Thursday afternoon due to a plane off the runway.
At around 11:55 a.m., JetBlue Airways Flight 312 skidded into the grass while turning off the runway after landing, according to a statement from the FAA. A ground stop was immediately issued for all flights departing from the airport.
7NEWS Aviation Expert Tom Kinton says the plane couldn’t be removed from the grass until the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) gave the green light.
Kinton, the former head of MassPort, says the incident could have been caused by hydraulic or brake failure based on the heavy skid marks left on the runway. He says that Logan Airport is notoriously challenging for pilots to navigate.
“Pilots describe it as ‘you have to have your A-game on when you come into Boston Logan,'” said Kinton. “Mainly due to the fact that it’s over water approaches, Boston is a windy city, so you get winds, and you have winter operations to contend with. And you have a number of intersecting runways… All complicate your ability to land and depart Boston Logan.”
It could take months to release a final report. Kinton says the NTSB will examine black box data and interview the crew to potentially have some preliminary answers in the coming days.
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