No one aboard a HondaJet was hurt Wednesday when the landing aircraft departed the hard surface of Runway 31 Center at Chicago’s Midway Airport. The aircraft skidded and came to stop in the grass just a few feet from the airport’s west field boundary fence.
Ironically, the aircraft just missed capturing the Engineered Materials Arrestor System at the end of the runway that was installed years ago after a Southwest Airlines aircraft, unable to stop on the same runway and ended up on a city street that runs along the west side of the airport. A young boy was killed in that accident after the Boeing’s wingtip struck the car in which he was riding. Winds at the time of the incident were varying between 180-200 degrees gusting to 17 knots giving the aircraft a tailwind component upon landing.
