Video: American Eagle Plane Skids Off O’Hare Runway

Video: American Eagle Plane Skids Off O’Hare Runway

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American Eagle is in the news once again. Several days ago an American Eagle Embraer 175 (operated by Republic) lost control on takeoff from Atlanta, and today an American Eagle Embraer 145 (operated by Envoy) skidded off the runway at Chicago O’Hare.

AA4125 operating from Greensboro to Chicago landed on runway 10L this morning, and skidded off the runway and to the left due to icy conditions.

The plane stopped about 5,350 feet down the runway, with the right main gear collapsed, and with the right wing tip in the snow.

The plane was evacuated, and all 38 passengers and three crew got off safely without injuries.

Prior to landing air traffic control had reported medium braking action (how hard it is for the plane to stop), while after this incident braking option was reported to be poor. The runway was closed subsequently.

Here’s a video taken by a passenger on the flight:

You have to at least appreciate the good sense of humor the passengers have in this situation — in the video you can hear one man say “I’d say we’re done,” and a woman exclaim “I think we landed.”

Conversations (23)
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  1. Michael Guest

    Thanks for explaining what braking is..

  2. Marc feldstein Guest

    I was wondering about the possibility of an attempted left turnoff at the highspeed, but hoped not. Looked like a left turn but further down the runway.

  3. Sean Guest

    Agreed on both accounts. The runway appears to be slick and mostly covered with fresh snow, braking appears to be poor. Add in a gusting crosswind from a storm (from pprune the weather was stated as wind 360 at 17 knots gusting 24, straight crosswind, moderate reverse, and the get-there-itis of a previous GA and you have a recipe for a bad day. It's a shame they weren't able to use more of the runway...

    Agreed on both accounts. The runway appears to be slick and mostly covered with fresh snow, braking appears to be poor. Add in a gusting crosswind from a storm (from pprune the weather was stated as wind 360 at 17 knots gusting 24, straight crosswind, moderate reverse, and the get-there-itis of a previous GA and you have a recipe for a bad day. It's a shame they weren't able to use more of the runway to slow, I hope it was purely a skid and they weren't actually trying to execute a turn at P4.

    Still, glad everyone was ok. I wouldn't be surprised if it's a write-off, N619AE is over 20 years old. With a laterally collapsed main gear and possible spar damage it's not looking good.

  4. marc Feldstein Guest

    @Rich Currier: I believe nearly every decent airport has a similar configuration at this point.
    Either east-west or north-south. (DFW? ATL? LAX?)

    Many of us recall the intersecting configuration ORD HAD where land and hold short operations (LAHSO) being curtailed lowered capacity significantly.

    32L/14R T1 or T10 departures?

    This is an improvement.

    Also, ORD ATC is second to none. You all mentioned LGA accidents. LAX had one in '91.

  5. JamesP Guest

    Hey Rich Currier you have no idea what you are talking about. So why don’t you just keep your mouth shut. Apparently OMAAT is turning into AVHearld where every dummy who has ever flown in a plane or microsoft simulator is now an aviation expert.

    James Purdue
    UAL ORD 787 CA

  6. Rich Currier Guest

    I'd also suggest that wind (as in crosswind) may have been a factor. City, Airport management, FAA, ATC, etc. no one wants to discuss how the new runways at O'Hare create treacherous conditions for pilots when angle/cross-winds are prevalent, add in the snow, ice, and hydroplane effects, a recipe for disaster. O'Hare's runways are all west-east (save one which isn't normally used) and poor pilots have to crab/offset for crosswinds most every day when winds...

    I'd also suggest that wind (as in crosswind) may have been a factor. City, Airport management, FAA, ATC, etc. no one wants to discuss how the new runways at O'Hare create treacherous conditions for pilots when angle/cross-winds are prevalent, add in the snow, ice, and hydroplane effects, a recipe for disaster. O'Hare's runways are all west-east (save one which isn't normally used) and poor pilots have to crab/offset for crosswinds most every day when winds are not blowing straight east-west or west-east, like today. Lame airport design, too many runways too close together, too many taxiways, too many cross-overs, too much ground traffic....pilots hate it.

  7. Jane Guest

    This very plane took me from CMI to ORD a few weeks ago. Weather in the whole state is awful. Glad everyone is okay.

  8. John Guest

    Sean,

    One other update ATC was reporting that braking action was moderate. After this flight the status was changed to poor and shortly after that the runway was closed.

  9. John Guest

    Sean,

    Ah then you might be right. I read Embraer and I was thinking E175 or E190.

  10. Ross Guest

    Second try. First attempt at landing was aborted.

  11. Sean Guest

    @John as stated in the article this was an ERJ-145 with tail-mounted engines and a T-tail. Some operators didn't take them with reverse to begin with, and others limit their use. I can recall only using higher than idle a handful of times, for instance when we needed to make an early turn-off at LGA.

    Most likely these Envoy pilots are fairly low-time and haven't directly dealt with slipping on ice, or high reverse effects...

    @John as stated in the article this was an ERJ-145 with tail-mounted engines and a T-tail. Some operators didn't take them with reverse to begin with, and others limit their use. I can recall only using higher than idle a handful of times, for instance when we needed to make an early turn-off at LGA.

    Most likely these Envoy pilots are fairly low-time and haven't directly dealt with slipping on ice, or high reverse effects on an ERJ. They were not even halfway down 10L, were trying to make the turn to P4, and lost directional control.

  12. Bryan E Guest

    John,

    This incident involved an E145 as opposed to an E175. It is equipped with fuselage mounted engines at the rear of the aircraft.

  13. John Guest

    It looks like the pilots panicked due to the poor braking action and lost lateral control of the aircraft due to excessive reverse.

    I assume you're referring to the Delta incident at La Guardia? That was an MD-80 where excessive reverse was an issue as the engines are at rear of the aircraft. I'm not aware of excessive reverse being an issue with under wing mounted engines at least as it relates to the rudder.

  14. Charles Guest

    Definitely a 145... not a 175. The spoilers were deployed... just hard to see bc the 145 only has them close to the root of the wing which is hard to see with this angle. All in all, glad that there were no injuries.

  15. Sean Guest

    The spoilers did deploy. They arm automatically and deploy with weight on wheels on the ERJ. You can see this at touchdown, they are the very inboard section of the wing.

    It looks like the pilots panicked due to the poor braking action and lost lateral control of the aircraft due to excessive reverse. Very similar to the Delta MD-80 crash at LGA.

    Reverse is rarely used on the ERJ due to noise, especially...

    The spoilers did deploy. They arm automatically and deploy with weight on wheels on the ERJ. You can see this at touchdown, they are the very inboard section of the wing.

    It looks like the pilots panicked due to the poor braking action and lost lateral control of the aircraft due to excessive reverse. Very similar to the Delta MD-80 crash at LGA.

    Reverse is rarely used on the ERJ due to noise, especially above idle. It looks like when they were skidding, they popped the buckets, then cycled it well above idle. It is well-known on T-Tails with reverse buckets that this can render the rudder ineffective. In a crosswind you can easily lose directional control with the rudder ineffective and a sliding nosewheel.

    Glad nobody was hurt, looks like it departed the runway at very low speed.

  16. adamB Guest

    Shouldn't the flaps have opened on the top of the wing on landing to help stop the plane?

  17. James S Guest

    100% off topic, but something you may want to post about.

    https://www.latimes.com/travel/story/2019-11-07/las-vegas-strip-restaurant-fees-not-required

    Horrendous racket. Capitalism run amok.

  18. Juan Guest

    Based on that video, this is what happens when you use your electronic devices during landing! (/s)

  19. Lara S. Guest

    I guess if you fly American you have to have a sense of humor :)

    I wonder how many passengers were using their imaginary foot pedals to try to brake the plane (a la my mom when I was learning to drive)...

    Glad everyone is safe. Looks like a heck of a day to fly in Chicago and based on the delays, not many will be!!

  20. Stogieguy7 Diamond

    I was scheduled to fly United Express' CRJ-550 to IND this afternoon, but given the conditions out there (including my journey to ORD), I decided to bag it and fly out tomorrow. BTW- United made changing the reservation as easy as could be. Kudos!

  21. Fredd Member

    Whenever Mrs. Fredd says, "That was a smooth landing," I always reply "So far..."

    Nice video.

  22. Katie Guest

    Glad nobody was hurt but how might this impact operations at ORD for the remainder of the day? Asking for a friend, aheh...

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Michael Guest

Thanks for explaining what braking is..

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Marc feldstein Guest

I was wondering about the possibility of an attempted left turnoff at the highspeed, but hoped not. Looked like a left turn but further down the runway.

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Sean Guest

Agreed on both accounts. The runway appears to be slick and mostly covered with fresh snow, braking appears to be poor. Add in a gusting crosswind from a storm (from pprune the weather was stated as wind 360 at 17 knots gusting 24, straight crosswind, moderate reverse, and the get-there-itis of a previous GA and you have a recipe for a bad day. It's a shame they weren't able to use more of the runway to slow, I hope it was purely a skid and they weren't actually trying to execute a turn at P4. Still, glad everyone was ok. I wouldn't be surprised if it's a write-off, N619AE is over 20 years old. With a laterally collapsed main gear and possible spar damage it's not looking good.

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