A small Sabreliner Jet had a complicated landing on the evening of Sunday July 28 at the international airport of Mérida, where the aircraft ended up about 10 meters off the runway in the security strip.
This led to the activation of security protocols in the air terminal, which meant the closure of the runways and delays in seven flights, six of them national and one international.
As soon as the emergency situation was detected, airport personnel had a quick intervention, both to help the crew of the aircraft and to activate the airport’s security protocols.
The mishap, which left neither injured nor damaged to the runway, occurred at 9:23 p.m. on Sunday, a time when several flights were expected to land or depart.
The landing tracks were closed for more than three hours, and re-opened at 00:40 hours, and some flights had to deviated to the Cancun airport.
The Sabreliner Jet left Costa Rica, and made a stopover in Cozumel before it could descent into Merida with two crew and a mechanic on board.
In full landing, the Sabreliner left one side, but the pilot corrected the course and managed to return to the track only to get off the other side, where he managed to stop the plane about 10 meters into the security strip.
During the landing maneuvers the jet got into the dirt area, dragging stones and grass on the runway, which is highly dangeorus for the take off and landing of other air crafts, so the landing track had to be temporarily closed while the Merida airport personnel were mobilized to clear the runway as soon as possible, in order to avoid other incidents.
Once the problem was resolved, the track was reopened at 00:40 on Monday July 29.
The Yucatan Times Newsroom
