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A plane form the Southwest Airlines carrying 118 passengers
slipped on the taxiway covered by snow on Sunday afternoon after it landed on
the Spokane International Airport
Nobody was injured and flights resumed after three hours.
The pilot of the plane took off from Portland,
Ore. and made two stops, in Sacramento
and San Diego.
According to spokeswoman for the Dallas-based carrier,
Brandy King, the pilot of the Southwest Flight 485, was taxiing the plane to
the gate and around 1:40 p.m. the front wheels skidded off on the taxiway
covered by snow.
Since Saturday heavy snow had been falling in Spokane and surrounding
areas.
Airport spokesman Todd Woodard said that even though snow
was on the ground there wasn’t any ice on the runway. He said: “We were pretty
vigilant about that,” San Francisco Chronicle informs.
King said that the airport was shutdown so that the Boeing
737 could be moved from the taxiway, which was blocked.
According to the airport, around 4:30 pm. the plane was
moved and the airport began its operations at about 5 p.m.
The airline shuttled the passengers and the crew with a bus
to the terminal.
According to King, the plane will be taken for a routine
inspection to see if it didn’t suffer any damage and to see if the accident was
caused by any mechanical failure.
Some of the airport’s lights were damaged, according to
Woodard.
After the first inspection it didn’t seem to be any damage
on the plane, but according to King, Southwest suspended all its operations for
the night.
Before arriving to Spokane,
the plane originated in Albuquerque, afterwards
it flew to San Diego, Sacramento
and Portland.
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