Sometimes, it’s good to just get out, go off the beaten path, maybe find yourself by taking a risk. That’s great if you’re at say, Moab it’s less great if you’re an Airbus A220. But for reasons that are under investigation now, JetBlue flight 312 decided to try being an off-roader after it landed at Boston Logan Airport. The plane was fully on the runway and in the process of slowing down when it suddenly veered left onto the grass, getting far enough so that all the plane’s wheels were on the green. No word yet on whether the plane would like to try a little rallying next.
Fortunately, per CBS News, all 160 people onboard were unharmed. The A220-300 hit the runway at 11:55 a.m. local time, swerving into its off-road excursion moments after that. As it was happening, the co-pilot radioed air traffic control that they had lost steering. Once they’d brought the Airbus to a halt, the passengers were deplaned and shuttled to the terminal, all of them now certified crash survivors. The airport then shut the runway down, which the FAA followed up by issuing a ground stop for the whole airport, halting any flights inbound to Logan from taking off. The ground stop lasted around two hours.
What caused the A220 to veer off the runway?
Airplane investigations take months, sometimes years, to complete, so we may not have official word on the cause of the A220’s sojourn for a while. Losing steering could be an issue with the control columns or the plane’s fly-by-wire computer. However, this actually isn’t the first A220 to have a problem at Logan Airport this year, and the previous incident might provide a clue.
Per Simple Flying, another plane, also flown by JetBlue, was forced to make an emergency landing immediately after departing Logan in March. The issue? The hydraulic system, and specifically, the part of it responsible for the landing gear. A faulty landing gear would certainly be enough to veer the plane off the runway after a landing. Sounds like Airbus has some gremlins to sort out.
As it happens, Logan flies more A220s than any other airport in the U.S., so if there are going to be issues with that airframe, it’s not crazy that they happen there. Maybe the airport should set up a little rally stage between the runways. Let the planes have some fun, man.
