Plane Stuck In Mud Dug Out With Hand Shovels [Video]

Ronkonkoma, NY – A plane stuck in mud at Long Island’s MacArthur Airport in New York had to be dug out using hand shovels, a front-end loader, and an aircraft tug.

The Tampa-bound Boeing 737, a Southwest plane, was a victim of the heavy rainfall that has afflicted flights in the region since Christmas Day. The plane became stuck in mud after slipping from a taxiway that the jet’s pilot misjudged. According to the Tampa Bay Times:

“The FAA says that Southwest Flight 4695, a Boeing 737, overran the taxiway after the pilot misnegotiated a turn.”

With their plane stuck in mud and going nowhere soon, all 129 passengers and five crew members were evacuated onto the runway and escorted back to MacArthur’s terminal, according to CBS. No injuries were reported.

After his plane became stuck in mud, one of the pilots on the aircraft was recorded asking the airport’s control tower for assistance and quipping:

“We just made your day very exciting … “

You can hear the transmission between the pilot of the plane stuck in mud and his control tower colleagues below, courtesy of CNN.

Southwest wasn’t the only company with a stranded plane on Friday. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports how an American Airlines jet “ran over a snow patch and got stuck” on a taxiway at Pittsburgh International Airport.

American Airlines spokesman Matt Miller told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that snow and ice had encased the landing gear and wheels:

“Unfortunately, several attempts to clear the ice were unsuccessful.”

Do such mishaps put you off flying during tempestuous weather?