It reads like the kind of headline Americans dread — but thankfully, despite the plane’s violent landing, no one was hurt this time.
Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence’s campaign plane crashed off a runway during a rainstorm at New York’s LaGuardia Airport late Thursday, tearing through a concrete barrier before coming to rest on a patch of grass.
When the plane came to a stop, U.S. Secret Service agents rushed from the back of the plane to the front, where Pence was seated, to check on the candidate. He said he was fine, though, and no one had been injured.
“We can see mud on the front windows,” a calm Pence said in the press cabin about a minute after the plane came to rest.
Later, the Indiana governor tweeted: “So thankful everyone on our plane is safe. Grateful for our first responders & the concern & prayers of so many. Back on the trail tomorrow!”
In Geneva, Ohio, GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump told his supporters that Pence had come “pretty close to grave, grave danger.” But, he added: “I just spoke to Mike Pence and he’s fine. Everybody’s fine.”
The plane was coming to New York from Fort Dodge, Iowa, where it had made a hard landing but stayed on the runway earlier Thursday afternoon. After a rally in Fort Dodge, Pence’s flight to New York was delayed because of weather. The Indiana governor spent about 20 minutes tossing a football with his staff, reporters and Secret Service agents near the Iowa runway.
Upon arriving at LaGuardia, after a bumpy approach, the Boeing 737 Eastern Airlines charter landed roughly, making first contact with the runway concrete. The pilot slammed on the brakes and the plane began to slide sideways. When it stopped, passengers could smell burning rubber.
The Federal Aviation Administration said, “A crushable concrete runway safety technology called an Engineered Material Arresting System stopped the plane.” The FAA website says the material is “designed to safely stop airplanes that overshoot runways.”
The 37 passengers, including Pence, and 11 crew members were evacuated through the back of the plane.
The Port Authority shut down the runway following the incident, but later reopened it. In a statement the agency confirmed that the plane had “overshot” the runway, there were no injuries and there was no fire.
Port Authority Executive Director Patrick Foye said the National Transportation Safety Board “will take control of the investigation. The aircraft will remain where it is until the NTSB releases it.”
Foye added, “Per the request of the NTSB, we are not going to speculate on the cause of the incident tonight.”
Pence spokesman Marc Lotter said Pence spoke with Trump shortly after the landing. The vice presidential candidate also called into the $1 million fundraiser at Trump Tower that he had been expected to attend, Lotter said. The campaign said it was preparing a new, similar aircraft that would be ready soon.
Republican vice presidential candidate Indiana Gov. Mike Pence talks with firefighters at New York’s LaGuardia Airport after his campaign plane slide off the runway while landing on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2016. (TV Network Pool via AP)
The Associated Press contributed to this article
Thank God all are fine. Very scary. Please everyone, be extra careful right now. I have no doubt all of you are pretty tired by now. Bless you and please God, protect each and every one of them and keep them safe from harm.
It was just a political stunt – an abstraction to bring attention that Pence was there for not there for women. Please do not believe these Repubs and right wing people. They run for office to grope women. It started with Herman Cain groping white women applying for jobs. Then came Roger Ailes whom we thought was an Angel. But was after office women. Now we have their leader Trump being accused of groping 6 women. Wait a minute even Thomas too! This is the biggest – Clarence Thomas is Supreme Court Justice-who is supposed to be infallible. I believe it is a learn-profession in GOP and TP-groping women. Let’s vote for Hillary.
Masanja, or whoever you are better go find a shrink, as you are totally insane. You want to believe a bunch of unproven b.s. stories regarding Mr. Trump, but that bi**h Hillary can lie, cheat, commit perjury, fraud, put our National Security at risk then have her husband have a secret meeting with Lynch, another crooked politician, and like magic, all charges disappear. This is what you want for President? If, for 1 minute you really believe that the incident at LaGuardia is just a trick, then you are off your rocker!
I agree.
Unbelievable how insane these liberal, Progressive nutjobs are. They’re coming apart at the synapse seems. Crazy is, as crazy does.
masanja, you need to go back to were you came from, you moron! Ten to one you are a food stamps leach collector living off from working tax payers. Stupid is, as stupid does!
You are such an idiot. You sound like one of the evil people who make up lies and spread them as far as you can. I will take Donald Trump any day over the lying cheating Hillary.
I guess you need to put names here and indicate who or what you are replying to. They put my reply somewhere it did not need to be. The reply about the computer generated machine comments were in reply to “masanja”. And I agree with Linda. This “masanja” does sound like an idiot — and ditto on the rest.
Are you for real?? Or are you some computer degenerated machine the Demo’s have cooked up to stir the pot up against the Republican Americans. You are sick!
Fools Despise Wisdom! (Proverbs 1:9) Trump-Pence sounds like “Trumpets” “Trump” is found in (1Cor 15:51) & (1Thes 4:16) Don’t Laugh > The oldest ever living man (969 years) “Methuselah” means and was code for “His Death Will Usher In The Flood” He died one week before the flood and Noah and his family buried him. The United States Parallels ISRAEL WHICH HAD 44 KINGS- THE OBAMA-NATION IS THE 44th! :O Revelation 911…911…911… 9:11 tells us about a goddess of destruction and the same statue is in front of CERN! The Hadron Collider is just like a Manhattan Project-largest machine man has ever made! The Physicists were right in the 40’s and we were successful in creating the atom bomb! (Y) NOW the Physicists are correct again and this “PORTAL” may be Revelation’s Key to the ABYSS! :O This is a Jubilee year! JerUSAlem was retaken and controlled by the Jews for the first time in more than 2000 years in 1967-Wow, 50 years ago! (Romans controlled it 2000 years ago!) :O Go back another Jubilee or 50 years from 1967 and you will Amazingly 😎 SEE 8| General Allenby walking into JerUSAlem on the first day of Hanukkah in 1917! :O Too Amazing! :O Go back 8 more Jubilees and WOW! :O you will 😎 see the Muslim Turks take JerUSAlem in 1517!!!!! BE RAPTURE READY!!!!! (1Cor 15:51) (1Thes 4:16) (Luke 21:36) (John 14:1-3) (Isaiah 26:19-21) etc. etc. etc. O:) O:) O:) The #1 selling book in all of human history gives us the EXACT date Israel would be reborn in 1948!!! Yeshua (Jesus) Warns us to WATCH and KNOW when HE is at the door!!! :O Jesus Warns us that the generation that see Israel reborn will NOT pass away before everything goes down!!! :O Psalm 90 tells us we live 70 years and then, “WE FLY AWAY” 1948+70=2018 or less!!!!! Hebrew calendar is only 360 days and we are at the next PRECISELY predicted Jubilee!!! ( :putnam: Rabbi Judah Ben Samuel 1217 AD)
And do you want to discuss Bill Clinton or are you just plain stupid?
Should have flown Southwest.
Let us just forget about Bill Clinton raping a 14 year old girl on a remote island and having sex with everything that would spread their legs before, during and after his Presidency. And his better half — sorry to say — Hitlary aborting all her babies except Chelsea which was not Bill’s baby. And all the people that have died that had anything to do with them. And lets just forget all the people that are having to whisper and hide from them. Lets just think like Hitlary — the heavens will open and the sun will shine and all the angels will sing — if I become President — Yeah Right! Why don’t we just vote for the little devil and just see. Oh, please!
We don’t need another 4 years of Obama and Hillary crap in the White House.
They are Liars!!
If you want America to go further down the toilet than Obama has already taken us then just vote for Clinton and you will get what you voted for!
Ya sure lets vote for Hillary who only murders! That isn’t as bad is it?
And I would say that Bill Clinton, a democrat by the way, isn’t just a gropper, but also a rappist and murderer.
Better groped than RAPED…Bill Clinton is a rapist and Hillary approves ! VOTE TRUMP!
Masanja, I do not know why you would think anyone would put that many people’s live in jeopardy for a political stunt, but I assure you, Mr. Pence would not nor would the pilot who would very easily lose his pilot license. Perhaps where you come from they do this or maybe you seem to think you know something you do not, but, there is only one I know of that tries to kill or has killed people and that is not on the Republican side. I am not going to call you bad names because that would only lower my own standards for my own person, but, you really need to think things through before you make such statements. People could have easily died in that accident and had Mr. Pence not been a Christian and had people praying for him, it could have been a lot worse. Please dear person, be careful of things you say that are so hurtful. They may one day come back on you.
YOU ARE SICK!
Dumb down generation! Very sad!
NEVER, NEVER, NEVER
Your comments, Masanja, are absolutely disgraceful…it’s obvious where your sick thoughts come from…from a sick mind! Your rediculous and non-sensical (and very left-wing) comments prove that you have no thoughts for the serious and more important issues surrounding this election. “A political stunt…” PLEASE! I shake my head in wonder at some of the things some folk come up with – and yours are, as usual, up with the worst!
God help America if people like you were in the majority…which, thank our lucky stars, they aren’t!
You are not worth the time – GFYS.
THANK GOD ALMIGHTY FOR SAVING ALL OF THOSE SO AWESOME SOULS! AMEN!
WE NEED THESE MEN NOW MORE THAN EVER OUR COUNRTY DESERVES BETTER THAN HRC!
WEARING RED NOVEMBER 8TH IN VERO BEACH FLORIDA!
And 1st Class through the entire ordeal – no blame game – checking on the press corp in the back of the plane and then when everyone was safely off the plane he thanked and shook hands with all the first responders. A real gentlemen unlike Hillary the “Hun” who would fat mouthed everyone involved and then refusing to deplane until she was assured she wouldn’t come under fire on the runway.
You said a mouthful John G. Hitlery wouldn’t know how to be humble if it bit her in the butt
Bit her in that FAT Butt!
Ditto to John. Very nice comment. I wish gentlemen would come back in our culture like Pence. They are far and few between. Glad we are going to have two in the White House again.
HRC tried to delete Mike.
It wouldn’t surprise me one bit.
My very first thoughts as well.
But if I read this correctly, they also had a hard landing somewhere else. The question I have is, was the same pilot flying in both incidents? I would start investigating the pilot if it was the same guy.
Eastern airlines is trying to make a comeback with a charter service. These airplanes are flown by inexperienced pilots. The hard landing in Iowa and the incident at la Guardia testify to the fact. Unfortunately, the Trump campaign has hired one of them to transport Mike Pence. They need to think twice about flying with them again.
Reminds me of EAL Flight 212, Sept. 1974, in Charlotte, NC, the report of which did not reveal the inside story. I arrived the scene after emergency services had departed. The DC-9 made a perfect landing, main gear touched, then the nose gear. Unfortunately, it was in a cornfield, about a quarter-mile from the runway. Would have been OK had the forest not been there beside the cornfield. My relative, EAL pilot, told me that the pilot was in a drunken sleep, the co-pilot had taken over and had failed to reset the altimeter.
drbhelthi …
. One week to the day after the CLT crash I flew the same trip. …
. It was an eye ball burner trip. …
. We started in ATL to CHS in the middle of the night with about a 4hr layover in CHS then on to CLT with a new flight number. …
. About the time you are arriving at CLT the sun was just coming up and you feel like your eyes are melting. …
. Neither of the pilots had been drinking and were very responsible and competent pilots. …
. The problem was low visibility and distraction by over confidence. …
. The new EAL charter co. has nothing to do with the former EAL except the name and paint skeem. …
. LGA incident last night was not a crash but what is known as a runway excursion. …
. Most likely the pilot flying landed too long for the runway in use and ended up in the designed over run material. …
. LGA is a very tight airport and often has low visibility with cross wind approaches terminating at short runways but it is the airport of choice due to it proximity to NYC. …
. LGA is a black star airport in the most congested airspace in the world. …
. JFK is a much safer facility but is farther from the city on Long Island.
.
I believe the pilots just put in the destination and push a button. The plane takes off and lands by itself.
debdell …
. Not quite.
“Overshooting” the runway – in this case – requires an investigation.
Let´s hope Clinton supporters in the NTSB do not conduct the investigation – – .
New York’s LaGuardia Airport is a very busy airport, thousands of take offs and landings in all weather every day, Knowing how desperate the democrats are, I smell a rat, why now? why only Mikes plane? forget the Obama FBI or HLS we need a independent investigation of the entire breaking system including breaking flaps and reverse thrusters, tire preasure, God help this country if anything happened to Donald or Mike.
You’re right about that. It smells like a rat to me and to my husband and family. Odd it was the only plane that had trouble, twice in one day. I’d check out the pilot really well, as well as the plane. Something fishy!!!!!!
NJ …
. You do realize the pilots are the first people on the seen of the accident or any other safe landing ? …
. If the pilots wanted to commit suicide don’t you think they could do a much better job than this ?
NJ …
. You do realize the pilot are the first on the seen of the accident or any other safe landing ? …
. If the pilots wanted to commit suicide don’t you think they could do a much better job than this ?
That is Hillaroid you are smelling.
Not sure why the hard landing in Iowa, that should not have happened with a good crew. As to going off the runway at La Guardia airport, that airport is one of the worst in the whole country. Very short runways and almost no run off areas.
It is amazing there are HATEFUL people sending short messages about Sen Mike Pence accident. They had better look in the mirror as KARMA will surprise you some day. I DO NOT wish any ill will toward people, who experience accidents . I AM A BIG FAN FOR DONALD J TRUMP; but would never make a statement about CLINTON CARTEL in an accident. Our Country is gone to HELL and you know who you can blame and it is NOT the REPUBLICANS.
Trump will DRAIN THE SWAMP and some of you had better look in your REAR VIEW MIRROR.
The most important thing was no one was hurt, killed, all survived. Mike Pence showed class when he shoke hands with the first responders. New York City’s LaGuardia airport is one of the very worst rated airports in the United States & one of the oldest in the nation. That airport received the very worst rating from Vice Figurehead Joe Biden when he flew in & out of there. LaGuardia airport need to be completely rebuilt, or made into strictly a commuter
airport.
Where was Hillary? Murdering Pence and Trump are not beyond her thought pattern. She’s done it before, and they may be that desperate.
Mike Pence has impressed me by his demeanor throughout the campaign. As a person who did not support Mr. Trump in the primary, I have come to trust Donald Trump’s ability to lead based on his willingness to pick a competent and professional vice president. President Trump has the potential to return our nation to a point where we are governed by competent people who are eager to work together to make America great again.
I proudly endorse Donald Trump and am doing all I can to see that he is elected president. With Trump’s opponent we will get the same incompetence and self-serving corruption that has got our nation into the mess it is in. Donald Trump, a Republican House and a Republican Senate will be able to get things done that will make our nation great again.
Thank God you are safe we need you . GOD bless Donald Trump ,save our Country.