Mishap on Taxiway Puts Plane in Hole : Van Nuys: Pilot of a jet owned by a jeans maker apparently misses his turn and tries to turn around, sinking a wheel nearly two feet into soft asphalt.
That old sinking feeling returned to Van Nuys Airport Tuesday morning when the pilot of a Boeing 727 jet owned by the manufacturer of Guess jeans apparently missed a turn and drove the craft onto a patch of soft asphalt, sinking a wheel nearly two feet into the ground.
This time, at least, there was no planeload of disgruntled football fans to make matters worse.
In January, a similar jet chartered by University of Wisconsin football fans--already peeved over a Rose Bowl ticket snafu--sunk through thin asphalt on the same taxiway. Charter officials blamed poor directions from the tower.
Airport officials this time blamed the pilot of the 727, which is owned by clothing-maker Guess Inc.
“Apparently, he missed his turn and tried to turn around,” airport spokeswoman Stacy Geere said. “It entered into an area that was not stressed for that kind of aircraft.”
The jet remained mired for more than two hours after the 9:37 a.m. incident, but did not disrupt air traffic, Geere said.
Airport workers chipped away sections of asphalt around the two wheels that punctured the asphalt, and wedged a metal plank under the tires so a tow truck could pull it out, Geere said. By afternoon, the plane was aloft and en route to Miami.
In January’s incident, the owner of the jet blamed the Federal Aviation Administration controllers for directing the plane onto a weak segment of taxiway in preparation for takeoff. Controllers hoped to avoid such an incident Tuesday by guiding the craft from the east taxiway to one better equipped for heavy aircraft, according to Geere. The pilot, however, missed the taxiway entrance, and then got stuck trying to turn around.
Official at Guess Inc. and the Van Nuys company that handles the aircraft would not comment.
“It was a non-event and the plane now is en route to Miami,” said a company spokeswoman, who refused to be named, from New York.
Airport officials did not know how many passengers, if any, were aboard the jet.
