13 WTHR - Indianapolis News |Plane slides off taxiway at Indianapolis International
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Nicole Misencik/Eyewitness News
Indianapolis - Icy conditions caused problems on the roadway and the runway Wednesday morning. A plane diverted from Chicago to Indianapolis because of winter weather ran into weather problems here when it slid off the icy taxiway.
A cold start with freezing fog in Central Indiana meant extra preparation on the tarmac, including de-icing planes at the new Indianapolis International Airport terminal.
Wednesday morning was mostly smooth sailing except for a group of travelers who hit a snag just after midnight when their plane hit a slick spot while it was taxiing. The Delta plane slid onto a grassy area.
Passengers told Eyewitness News the plane had just landed safely but hit a bump in the road.
"Came in for our landing. Landed the plane. We were turning to get onto the taxiway and the plane slid into some black ice right into the grass," said Nick Gardner, passenger.
The 117 passengers and five crew members were fine and no one was injured. But the passengers were never supposed to land in Indianapolis. They were on a direct flight to Milwaukee from Atlanta.
"Milwaukee was iced over so they sent us to O'Hare. We landed in Chicago. They said Milwaukee is clear again and they sent us back up to Milwaukee. Milwaukee was closed again then we're going to head back to Chicago but Chicago was closed so here we are in Indianapolis," said Donna Searles, passenger.
The passengers sat on the plane waiting for busses that eventually took them to the ticketing counters to find out how they'd get back to Wisconsin. After a day of flying, and still not where she wanted to be, Donna Searles still had an upbeat attitude, especially about the pilot.
"He did a beautiful job and it was just icier than what ground control told them it was," Searles said.
That Delta Airlines MD-88 remains at Indianapolis International. Crews are trying to determine if any damage was caused to the aircraft.
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