Nobody was seriously hurt when a Delta MD-88 ran off a runway at New York’s La Guardia Airport, in March 2015, but the NTSB said this week the crew made some mistakes in dealing with the situation. The flight crew’s decision to land on the snow-covered runway was “not inappropriate,” the safety board said, and “consistent with [Delta] policy.” However, once the airplane touched down, the captain applied “excessive reverse thrust,” which caused a loss of directional control by “blanking out” the rudder. The reverse thrust probably would not have caused a problem on a dry runway, the safety board said. The cabin crew also made mistakes in managing the evacuation, which took longer than it should have.
Passengers didn’t start to exit the airplane till 12 minutes after it came to a halt, the NTSB said, and it was 17 minutes total time before everyone was off. Practice drills generally aim to empty an airplane within 90 seconds. The accident also raised the issue of inaccurate passenger manifests. The crew at first thought there were 125 passengers on board, but two small children weren’t counted because they hadn’t been issued boarding passes. Also, the plane’s left wing had hit a perimeter fence and was leaking fuel during the evacuation. “We are fortunate to have gained these insights without any loss of life and only minor physical injuries,” said Christopher Hart, the board chairman. “This was a very close call.”
