U.S. Airways plane gets stuck in tarmac because of the heat
Things
were proceeding normally Friday evening as a US Airways flight was leaving the
gate at Reagan National Airport to begin its flight to Charleston, S.C.
But
the temperature reached 100 degrees in Washington on Friday and that apparently
softened the airport paving enough to immobilize the airplane. The small
vehicle that usually tows planes away from the gate tugged and pulled, but the
plane was stuck.
“It
was apparently a soft spot caused by the heat,” airline spokeswoman Michelle
Mohr said, and the airplane “wouldn’t move.”
A
jet airliner getting stuck in the airport tarmac appeared to be one of the more
unusual incidents that occurred in the Washington area amid a blistering string
of daily temperatures above 95 degrees.
It
was “pretty rare,” Mohr said. But then, she noted, “we’ve also had very unusual
temperatures.”
When
the first tug failed to budge the 50-seat regional jet, the 35 passengers got
off.
Then,
a second, bigger tow vehicle was brought in. The passengers got back on.
The
larger tug pulled the airliner from its rut to a place where it could start its
engines. After a delay of about three hours, it was on its way to Charleston.
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