Texas basketball team OK after plane rolls off taxiway
Posted: Thursday, January 10, 2008
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- Lincoln Airport officials were trying to figure out how to get Boeing 737 out of the mud and back onto a taxiway Wednesday.
The jet was a charter flight carrying the University of Texas' women's basketball team to a game Wednesday night against the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Airport executive director John Wood said no one was injured.
The jet landed without incident Tuesday evening, Wood said. After it turned off the runway and headed for the terminal, the pilot reported that he had lost hydraulic power -- he couldn't steer it.
Wood said the jet ran 50 feet off the east edge of the pavement about 100 yards from the terminal gate before stopping in the mud.
"He's not going anywhere for a while," Wood said. "We're trying to figure out how to tackle this."
"While it's very visible it didn't affect operations whatsoever," Wood said. "We figure we'll get it out sometime today."
The Boeing 737-200 is operated by Ameristar Jet Charter of Dallas.
Stacy Muth, Ameristar Jet Charter vice president of operations, said there was no damage reported yet.
"We haven't finished all the inspections required," Muth said. "We know the hydraulic line failed. That's a two-foot section of tubing."
She said the company expects to have the plane back on the pavement and checked out for a return flight to Austin after the game.
"It's called a return to service," she said. "That requires a mechanical inspection and a replacement of the hydraulic line. That's it."
The 737 was configured to carry 56 passengers. She said the flight Tuesday from Austin carried 31 passengers and seven crew members.
Team spokeswoman Barb Kowal, who was aboard the plane, told the Lincoln Journal Star that nobody panicked when the jet rolled off the pavement to a stop in the mud.
"Most people were sleeping," Kowal said.
The jet was a charter flight carrying the University of Texas' women's basketball team to a game Wednesday night against the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Airport executive director John Wood said no one was injured.
The jet landed without incident Tuesday evening, Wood said. After it turned off the runway and headed for the terminal, the pilot reported that he had lost hydraulic power -- he couldn't steer it.
Wood said the jet ran 50 feet off the east edge of the pavement about 100 yards from the terminal gate before stopping in the mud.
"He's not going anywhere for a while," Wood said. "We're trying to figure out how to tackle this."
"While it's very visible it didn't affect operations whatsoever," Wood said. "We figure we'll get it out sometime today."
The Boeing 737-200 is operated by Ameristar Jet Charter of Dallas.
Stacy Muth, Ameristar Jet Charter vice president of operations, said there was no damage reported yet.
"We haven't finished all the inspections required," Muth said. "We know the hydraulic line failed. That's a two-foot section of tubing."
She said the company expects to have the plane back on the pavement and checked out for a return flight to Austin after the game.
"It's called a return to service," she said. "That requires a mechanical inspection and a replacement of the hydraulic line. That's it."
The 737 was configured to carry 56 passengers. She said the flight Tuesday from Austin carried 31 passengers and seven crew members.
Team spokeswoman Barb Kowal, who was aboard the plane, told the Lincoln Journal Star that nobody panicked when the jet rolled off the pavement to a stop in the mud.
"Most people were sleeping," Kowal said.
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Dick wrote on Jan 10, 2008 1:53 AM: