Plane skids off runway, closing airport in Presque Isle

Anthony Brino • March 4, 2019

PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — The Federal Aviation Administration will be investigating why a plane slid off the runway in Presque Isle Monday morning, leaving the airport closed until further notice.

Around 11:30 a.m. Monday, a United Airlines flight from Newark to Presque Isle was making its second approach at landing when it landed and then slid off the runway, said Presque Isle public information officer Kim Smith.

There were 28 passengers and 4 crew members on board, and four passengers and the pilot were taken to a hospital with minor injuries, Smith said.

The United flights for the Newark-Presque Isle service are operated by CommuteAir, which is partly owned by United.

The aircraft also sustained unspecified damage and is remaining in place until investigators with the Federal Aviation Administration can assess the incident, Smith said.

It is not clear what may have caused the off-runway landing, Smith said.

The incident closed the airport Monday, and it is not known immediately when outgoing and incoming flights will resume, Smith said.

Rick and Cassie Daigle, owners of Too Far North Fitness in Fort Kent were returning from Columbus, Ohio where Cassie was competing in a kettlebell event at the Arnold Sports Expo.

Rick Daigle said passengers realized there was a problem even before the plane hit the runway.

“Well, the first attempt they pulled up before landing… so obviously something was wrong,” he said. “The actual ‘landing’ if you want to call it that completely missed the runway. The first impact was hard and violent.”

Daigle said the plan then bounced four or five times before it came to a stop at a location far from the runway.

The scene in the airplane was one of and chaos with people screaming and seats coming apart, Rick said.

“The plane literally is nowhere near the actual runway,” he said. “We smelled some burning, but nothing was on fire.“We were just in shock.”

In fact, Rick said that snowplows had to remove snow so that emergency responders could get to the plane to help the passengers.

Rick said that Cassie hit her head during the incident and once the couple returns to Fort Kent she plans to be evaluated at Northern Maine Medical Center as a precaution.

“We climbed out on a ladder with the help of local fire department,” he said.

The Daigles wers still at the airport as of 2 p.m. after having been interviewed by emergency medical technicians and a United representative, Rick said.

The Daigles are parents to a 4 /2 year old son. “Cass did say to me she will be okay when she sees Keegan,” Rick said.

“I do want answers though,” Rick said.

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