Jet Skids Off N.Y. Runway as Snow Falls; 28 Injured
A jumbo jet bound for Florida with 467 people aboard skidded off a runway and smashed into a concrete tower when the pilot aborted takeoff during a snowstorm Wednesday.
Twenty-eight passengers were injured in the accident, which occurred as storms across the eastern half of the United States tied up highways and air travel.
The accident closed John F. Kennedy International Airport, one of the nation’s busiest, for four hours. At least 200 other flights there had to be delayed, canceled or diverted.
Tower Air said the pilot of the Boeing 747 aborted the takeoff because the runway was icy. But the New York-New Jersey Port Authority, which operates the airport, disputed that.
Hundreds of flights were canceled Tuesday and Wednesday because of two storms that iced a region from the Plains to New England. Up to 2 feet of snow fell in northwestern Pennsylvania, with a foot in Ohio and New Jersey. Massachusetts got 10 1/2 inches and southern Maine 6 inches. Missouri got up to 10 inches.
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