The small plane that slid off the runway and led to snowballing cancellations at Hobby Airport on Friday morning has been removed from the area, according to Hobby Airport officials. Flights are now cleared to leave the airport. — End of Update — ------
UPDATE: 3:18 p.m. CT
More than 70 flights have been cancelled at Hobby Airport following a small plane wreck that occurred at the travel hub on Friday morning.
The incident, which saw a small aircraft slide off a runway after landing at the airport, led to a full ground stop at Hobby Airport shortly after 12 p.m. No injuries were reported as a result of the off-kilter landing, and all six individuals aboard the craft were safely deplaned, according to a Houston Airports representative. At the time of this writing, grounds crew and maintenance staff have retrieved the vehicle and are working to repair the grassy interstitial where the plane went off track.
"The maintenance team is essentially filling in divots in grass to make sure that the airport safety area is up to federal code and there are no massive holes in it," a Houston Airports representative said.
Of the 72 flights cancelled at Hobby Airport on Friday, 71 are Southwest Airlines flights, according to FlightAware.com data.
Hobby Airport noted in a tweet that its customer service agents are assisting guests whose flights have been delayed or cancelled following Friday morning's wreck. — End of Update — ------
A small plane sliding off a runway at William P. Hobby Airport near Houston on Friday morning sparked a temporary full ground stop at the Southwest Airlines hub.
The crash was minor in nature, according to a report by KHOU's Lea Wilson, who notes that the incident occurred at 11:30 a.m. The plane in question touched down but ended up in the grass between two major runways, according to Wilson. The airport noted shortly thereafter that a groundstop had been instituted due to the incident.
"Houston Airports is responding to an aircraft excursion," Hobby Airports said in a tweeted statement at 12:10 p.m. "A small jet exited runway 4 and entered the runway safety area, which is in grass. Due to the jet's location — the intersection of two runway safety areas — a ground stop is in place."
Hobby Airports noted in a subsequent tweeted statement that the aircraft is safe and the jet was in the process of being removed from the grassy interstitial.
"The aircraft has been declared fire safe," the airport's Twitter account stated. "Our team is working with local and federal partners to safely remove the jet from the grass. Passengers should reach out to airlines for flight status."
A photo tweeted Friday by Houston Air Watch, a local aviation monitoring account, showed a small aircraft in a grassy sector near intersecting runways at the airport.
Messages left with Houston Airports officials were not immediately returned Friday afternoon. At the time of this writing, FlightAware.com data showed 36 total flight cancellations and 76 total delayed flights at Hobby Airport on Friday.
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