Air travel has become safer over the years, but as with any other type of vehicle, accidents can still happen. For 10 people who were on board a twin-engine Cessna jet that slid off the runway in Oroville; however, what might have otherwise ended in tragedy, everyone escaped without injury.
The Los Angeles Times reported that on Wednesday, August 21st, the small jet was taking off from the Oroville Municipal Airport located in Northern California just before noon. For reasons that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has yet to determine, one of the pilots aborted the takeoff.
The small corporate jet was to take off from Oroville and due to land at the Portland International Airport in Oregon.
According to Joe Deal, Oroville’s fire and police chief, the action of the aborted takeoff caused an issue within the engines of the plane, and the engine caught fire. The jet already had its landing gear in the retracted position, and it slid off the runway into a field of dry grass.
Those onboard the aircraft, two pilots and eight passengers, were able to all deplane safely and get away from the burning aircraft and get to safety.
Firefighters arrived on the scene and were able to extinguish the fire that spread over approximately 2 acres. A spokesman for the Butte County Fire Department, Rick Carhart, told the L.A. Times that he was uncertain whether the plane caught fire before or after it left the runway.
The incident is still currently under investigation by the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
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