Plane slides off runway at Midway

CNN.com - Plane slides off runway at Midway - Dec 8, 2005: "CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) -- A Southwest Airlines jet slid off the runway during a heavy snowstorm at Chicago's Midway Airport and crashed into at least one vehicle in a nearby intersection on Thursday night, a spokeswoman for Chicago's Department of Aviation said.

Flight 1248, which was arriving from Baltimore, Maryland, slid through a fence separating the runway from the intersection, spokeswoman Wendy Abrams said.

There was no definitive cause given for the accident, but Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Laura Brown said the plane's nose gear collapsed.

There were no immediate reports of injuries, Abrams said, but Brown said there could be two people injured in the car.

Amanda Doherty lives near the airport and said she went to the scene shortly after the crash and saw a car pinned under the airplane with its headlights still on.

A bartender at a pub down the street from the accident said he heard two loud booms when the plane crashed into the intersection.

'We thought it was an automobile accident and we looked out the window and we saw the tail section of a Southwest airliner laying across the street, on Central Avenue,' said Tom Fitzgerald, adding that he saw passengers exiting the rear of the plane. "People were running and ambulances were coming down the street."



The Boeing 737 was carrying 98 passengers and five crew members. It left Baltimore-Washington International Airport about 5 p.m. ET and landed shortly after 8 p.m. ET. Passengers told WFLD television that the plane made a "hard landing."

It had been snowing all day in Chicago and visibility was poor at the time of the landing. The National Weather Service had issued a heavy snow warning in the city and surrounding area, saying that 6 to 9 inches of new snow could accumulate before midnight -- at a rate of 2 inches per hour.

There were approximately 8 inches of snow on the ground by early evening, and winds were blowing at between 13 mph and 18 mph.

Video from the scene showed at least 10 ambulances at the scene and dozens of fire trucks and other emergency vehicles converging on the intersection. The plane's fuselage was bent and its nose was on the ground.

Midway, which lies in a dense residential and commercial district of the city, west of downtown, was closed almost immediately and was not set to reopen until early Friday morning, the FAA said."