Moment plane ‘skids off runway’ as passenger shares exactly what happened on board | World | News
A passenger travelling on a plane that skidded off the runway has revealed exactly what happened on board as the incident unfolded. A LOT Polish Airlines plane at Vilnius Airport in Lithuania slipped on the icy runway during landing, with luckily no injuries. Passenger Nerijus said there was surprisingly “no panic” on the flight from Warsaw.
He told Lithuanian outlet LRT.lt: “There was no panic among the passengers; everyone was in order. The LOT airline stewards acted in a very orderly manner. All information was presented clearly. There was no panic or panic.” Nerijus explained that the plane landed safely before skidding at the end of the runway. He added: “We landed safely. Apparently, the runway was slippery and the plane skidded while taking off. The feeling was the same as when you start to skid in a car.
“You realise you’re skidding, the seat belts tighten, and that’s it. The plane stopped, it wasn’t going very fast, and that’s it.”
Passengers were then quickly allowed off the plane via a ramp, Nerijus said.
He said: “Everything is fine. There were no problems. LOT representatives worked very well. Ground handling services worked very well. Everything is fine.”
Fellow passenger Kazys Maksvytis, a basketball coach, also said there “wasn’t a lot of fear” on board and the incident was over quickly.
He told the outlet: “We landed well. You could see that there was a lot of snow around, the runway was also so snowy. It was just that during the turn, when the speed had already decreased, we slid off the runway.
“The plane was heading a little, at one point it seemed like we were going to roll, but the plane quickly returned to its place. There wasn’t a lot of fear, just so light.
“Since the speed had already decreased when the slide occurred, it was kind of drifting. It seemed like one side started to lift, you know how it is when one side is thrown, but then we quickly turned back and realized that we wouldn’t turn over.”
