‘It dropped’ - Passengers describe moment Atlanta-bound Delta flight went off taxiway

ATLANTA — Channel 2 Action News has confirmed that a Delta flight headed to Atlanta went off the taxiway in Pittsburgh while taxiing Wednesday night.

It happened just before 6:30 p.m. according to a tweet from Pittsburgh International Airport.

Our sister-station in Pittsburgh, WPXI-TV, said Heavy snow showers were pushing through the region Wednesday evening, but it is not clear at this point if weather was a factor in the incident.

Tanya Penniman was on board the plane and said it was indeed snowing when the plane went to take off.

“We started to take some speed, and all of the sudden there is this rumbling, bumping this weird, like if you were slipping on gravel,” Penniman said. “And then it was like boom! We were done. It dropped.”

The plane slanted downward toward the nose after it went off the runway. It took several hours for emergency crews to get there and get people off the aircraft, according WPXI-TV. A slide could not be used to get people off the plane due to the angle of the plane. Firefighters had to use ladders. Buses were used to shuttle people back to the terminal.

Delta sent us a statement saying:

“While on taxi-out prior to departure, Delta flight 2231 from Pittsburgh to Atlanta exited the taxiway paved surface. Delta teams worked with the airport authority to safely transport customers back to the terminal. We apologize to our customers for the delay and inconvenience and are working to re-accommodate them as quickly as possible.”

Information from WPXI-TV contributed to this story.

Plane slides of taxiway before takeoff at Pittsburgh International Airport

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