iStock/Thinkstock(BALTIMORE) — A Southwest Airlines plane apparently skidded off the taxiway during takeoff Wenesday at the Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport in Maryland.
Southwest Airlines flight 906, bound for Jamaica’s Montego Bay, “turned and stopped near the taxiway pavement edge” as it was preparing to take off Wednesday morning shortly after 10 a.m. Eastern Time, according to an airport spokesperson. There were no reported injuries.
The plane remained on the taxiway pavement as all passengers were removed from the aircraft and transported back to the airport terminal. The plane was moved away from the taxiway at around 12:30 p.m., the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said there wasn’t any ice on the taxiway or the runway, and airfield pavement temperatures were above freezing at the time of the incident. Officials tested the condition of the pavement surface immediately following the incident and it was within the standards set by the Federal Aviation Administration, according to the spokesperson.
The FAA said in a statement that the Boeing 737 “slid sideways” on the taxiway and it would investigate the incident.
The Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport announced via Twitter that Southwest Airlines flights “continue to operate.”
Passenger Donna Edmonds described the moment the plane skidded off the taxiway.
“We were taxiing on the runway not too fast. We were just at the point where the plane needed to turn 180 degrees to the runway when all of a sudden the throttle went down, we missed the turn, we heard the brakes coming on and we slid into the grass,” Edmonds told ABC News in a telephone interview.
The passengers were forced to leave their personal belongings as they exited the aircraft and were transported back to the terminal, where they waited to board another plane, Edmonds said.
According to ABC News meteorologists, the Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport experienced freezing rain Wednesday morning. Temperatures have been hovering near — or at times below — freezing much of Wednesday morning.
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