Southwest flight skids off end of runway at Hollywood Burbank Airport

Friday, December 7, 2018
Southwest flight skids off end of runway at Burbank Airport
A Southwest flight rolled off the end of a runway at Hollywood Burbank Airport after wet conditions made for a tougher landing Thursday morning.

BURBANK, Calif. (KABC) -- A Southwest flight rolled off the end of a runway at Hollywood Burbank Airport after wet conditions made for a tougher landing Thursday morning.

An FAA spokesman said Southwest Flight 278 rolled off the end of runway 8 while landing at the airport shortly after 9 a.m. It ended up in an area called the Engineered Material Arresting System (EMAS).

EMAS is a safety system designed to stop planes if they go off the end of a runway, according to the FAA. Wheels from a plane sink into soft material to stop it.

No injuries were reported.

The plane flew out of Oakland around 8 a.m. with 112 passengers and five crew members.

Passenger Moe Storch tweeted out a photo saying the runway was wet from the rainstorm, causing the plane to hydroplane after landing. He said the pilot was quick and regained control of the aircraft to stop it safely.

Another passenger, Grant Palmer, recalled how it felt when the plane landed.

"As we landed you could feel the brakes. I fly out of Burbank a lot so I know that you have to hit the brakes. It's a short runway. Then mud started hitting the windows, you could see smoke and water and I started noticing the plane going sideways. Then we came to a stop and I noticed we were right up against a retaining wall," he said.

Palmer said he ended up getting into an emergency preparedness tuck and his coworker appeared to be fine.

The passengers were deplaned by stairs and taken to their terminal by a bus.

A witness inside the airport captured the landing on video.

The airport remained open and operational, but several flights were canceled due to the FAA inspection on the runway.

The runway will reopen after the plane is removed and debris is cleared.