HOUSTON – The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating after a plane reportedly slid off the runway at Bush Airport early Friday morning.
NTSB is sending a team to investigate Friday's runway excursion of a United Airlines B-737 at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport.
— NTSB Newsroom (@NTSB_Newsroom) March 8, 2024
According to staff at Bush International Airport, the call for the United Airlines plane has since been downgraded to an Alert 1.
At this time, no injuries have been reported.
United Airlines released the following statement:
“Around 8 a.m. today, a United Airlines flight landed on a runway at George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH). As it was exiting the runway for the gate, the aircraft left the pavement and entered the grass along Runway 9-27. Fortunately, no one on board was injured and all passengers were safely transported to the terminal.
Per federal regulation, the FAA has been notified. Flights in and out of IAH continue without interruption.
For more details about the flight and its passengers, please reach out to United Airlines.”
Passenger Janet Bumbarger shared the video below exclusively with KPRC 2′s Gage Goulding. You can see a large first responder presence as passengers stare at the tilted plane on the runway.
According to KPRC 2′s Gage Goulding, a passenger on the flight stated that the landing was smooth however while taxiing, they turned and felt bumps.
”Felt like when you have a flat tire in a car,” the passenger told Goulding.
The passenger said that the plane ended up in the grass, leaning towards the left.
As of now, the bags and personal belongings of the passengers are still on board.
Some say they are worried that they will soon miss their connecting flights.
This is the fourth incident involving a United Airlines jet this week. All of those are Boeing jets.
Below is a timeline of the incidents.
- Monday, March 4 – United Flight 1118 from IAH to RSW (Fort Myers, FL) suffers an engine fire. This is a Boeing 737-900.
- Thursday, March 7 – United Flight 35 from SFO to Japan has a wheel fall off upon takeoff. This is a Boeing 777-200.
- Thursday, March 7 – NTSB releases their investigation on a Boeing-made United Airlines jet after a “stuck” rudder pedal during a landing on Flight 1539 from Nassau, Bahamas to Newark, NJ
- Friday, March 8 – Today’s incident. A Boeing 737 MAX 8