Minnesota Vikings’ plane slides off Wisconsin runway, stuck for hours

Published 12:53 am Saturday, December 24, 2016

APPLETON, Wis. (AP) — The Minnesota Vikings’ team plane slid off a Wisconsin runway in snowy conditions Friday and became stuck in the grass, leaving players waiting for hours to get off the aircraft.

A team spokesman said there were no injuries after the landing shortly after 5 p.m. Friday at Appleton International Airport. The Vikings will play the Green Bay Packers on Saturday.

The Vikings’ official Twitter account reported shortly after 7 p.m. Friday that “while taxiing after a safe landing, the team plane slid off the runway and became stuck.

The plane landed about 5:15 p.m. It was snowing much of the evening in Appleton, which is about 30 miles south of Green Bay.

Airport officials said that a rear wheel on the plane’s landing gear slid off the taxiway amid snowy conditions, the Post-Crescent of Appleton reported.

The airport did not have a staircase tall enough to reach the doorway of the stuck plane. Firetrucks arrived to retrieve passengers, but only two could leave the plane at a time.

Airport officials posted on Twitter that the first buses left for the team hotel in Appleton around 10:15 p.m. The buses arrived at the hotel about 15 minutes later.