Stranded passengers finally take off

CASCADE TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) - Passengers on an AirTran flight bound for Orlando that slid off a taxiway Friday afternoon finally made it safely to their destination.

The flight, a Boeing passenger jet filled with 117 passengers and five crew members, was turning when it hit a patch of ice and slid onto the grass. Crews fought through wind and snow to get the jet out of the grass and back on the taxiway. A second set of stairs was brought to deplane the passengers.

Those passengers finally made it out of Ford Airport at about 7 p.m. Friday after a further weather delay.

One of the passengers on the plane, Tom Elzinga, told 24 Hour News 8 he and his family were headed to Florida for a vacation. He said it seemed the pilot turned too sharply and put the nose in the grass.

"We felt it slide off and then a little bit of a shudder and then the plane stopped," said Elzinga. "I think he realized it had gone off the taxi way."

Airtran Flight 1292 set out for Orlando from Ford Airport at about 1 p.m., but by 2 p.m. passengers still sat on the plane. It never even made it to the runway before sliding off into the grass.  

Passengers sent pictures to 24 Hour News 8 showing the nose gear and the wheel lodged in the grass.

Judy Brasseur and her partner Mary knew something had gone wrong.

"Well I could tell we were sitting sideways and I said 'I think we just slid off the runway' and she's like 'no way' and I'm like 'yeah look out the window' and then we sat there for like an hour before they even announced there was an issue," said passenger Mary Buckius.

"A lot of kids are on the plane, they were good but there's a lot of kids on the plane so that's a lot of stress on those parents, " said another passenger, Judy Brasseur.

Southwest Airlines, which now owns Airtran, says the passengers were taken back to the terminal as quickly as possible and given meal vouchers.  The airline says it appears to be weather related, but everything is still under investigation.  No one was injured.

Elzinga said it could've been worse and he's just looking forward to making it to Orlando safely.

Southwest re-routed an Airtran plane from Atlanta to Grand Rapids. The passengers left Ford Airport Friday night and had landed in Orlando by 10 p.m.