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The Delta Airlines plane that skidded off a runway at New York LaGuardia airport last week may have had brake problems, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal that cited two unnamed sources familiar with the federal probe.

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A Delta airliner is parked on the tarmac after making an emergency landing at the Augusto C. Sandino International Airport in Managua in this March 6, 2015 handout provided by Presidency Nicaragua. REUTERS/Orlando Miranda/Presidency Nicaragua/Handout via Reuters

REUTERS: The Delta Airlines plane that skidded off a runway at New York LaGuardia airport last week may have had brake problems, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal that cited two unnamed sources familiar with the federal probe.

Based on information from the “black box” and interviews with the pilots of Delta Flight 1086, federal investigators are focusing on the brake systems since other aspects of the touchdown were working as expected, the report said.

The investigation is also looking at the condition of the runway and the impact of snow and ice.

Air traffic safety experts cautioned the investigation is still in its early stages, according to the report.

The Boeing Co MD-88 aircraft was en route from Atlanta on Thursday and slid on the tarmac and crashed through a fence, barely stopping short of Flushing Bay.

Several of the 127 passengers and five crew members suffered minor injuries after the plane skidded off runway 13, it’s nose hanging out over the edge of the bay.

Representatives for Delta and the National Transportation Safety Board could not immediately be reached.

(Reporting by Jennifer Saba in New York)

– Reuters

NEW YORK, March 5 (UPI) — A Delta Airlines MD-88, landing in a snowstorm at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, skidded on the runway and crashed into an embankment Thursday.

The flight, Delta Airlines 1086, left Atlanta Thursday morning. After landing in New York, it crashed through a fence before striking the embankment on the airport’s Runway 13.

Passengers climbed onto a broken wing to evacuate the plane, then were helped to the ground by rescue crews. There were no reports of injuries to any of the 125 passengers or five crew members, but reports of a fuel leak caused emergency vehicles to surround the plane.

The airport has remained closed since the incident.

Delta said, in a statement, all passengers left the plane safely and were transported to the LaGuardia terminal.

About three inches of snow had fallen in New York by 11:10 a.m., the time of the accident. About 15 minutes earlier, the National Weather Service reported the temperature at the airport was 26 degrees, with visibility of one-quarter mile. The wind, sleet and snow caused slippery paved surfaces.

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Giants’ Donnell OK After Plane Mishap

New York Giants tight end Larry Donnell was a passenger on a Delta Airlines flight that skidded off the runway while landing at New York’s LaGuardia Airport on Thursday morning.

The plane veered off the airport’s main runway around 11:10 a.m. and skidded through a chain-link fence and perilously close to the edge of Flushing Bay. Photos showed the nose of the plane resting on a snowy berm that separated the runway from the icy waters.

Laguardia Airport: 131 passengers/crew on plane. 24 non-life-threatening injuries, 3 of whom transported at this time pic.twitter.com/UlvDtcuHUF

— FDNY (@FDNY) March 5, 2015

There were 131 people, including crew members, on the plane. Six people had non-life-threatening injuries, and at least two were taken to the hospital, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the airport.

Donnell was unharmed and was posting photos and videos of the incident on his Instagram page.

Plane down

A photo posted by Larry Donnell (@beyond_greatnes) on Mar 5, 2015 at 8:24am PST

“I’m blessed to be safe and sound after our plane skidded off the runway at LaGuardia airport today,” Donnell said in a statement released by the team. “I feel fine physically and hopefully all the other passengers did not have any significant injuries. We were all shocked and alarmed when the plane started to skid, but most importantly, as far as I know, all of the passengers and flight crew were able to exit the plane safely.”

The airport was closed shortly thereafter to incoming flights because the plane was leaking fuel, said Joe Pentangelo, a Port Authority spokesman.

“If we wouldn’t have hit the snowbank, we’d be in the water right now,” Charles Runels, a passenger from Atlanta, told reporters

The National Transportation Safety Board is sending an investigator to the scene to secure the plane’s flight data and cockpit voice recorders and to document damage to the plane and other evidence, said spokeswoman Kelly Nantel.

Donnell was flying in from Atlanta to sign his 2015 contract tender. As an exclusive-rights free agent — a player who has fewer than three years of NFL service but whose contract has expired — Donnell is bound to his team for another year as long as it decides to tender him.

The Giants did so Wednesday, and Donnell will play 2015 on a one-year, $585,000 contract. He was third on the team with 63 receptions and 623 receiving yards and second on the team with six touchdown catches in 2014. He projects to be the Giants’ starting tight end again in 2015.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Dan Graziano

ESPN New York Giants reporter

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March 7, 2015, 7:17 AM|Federal air safety investigators are expected to meet with the flight crew of the Delta airlines plane that skidded off the runway at LaGuardia Airport in New York. The NTSB is looking into several factors that may have led to the mishap. Anthony Mason reports.

Reports from New York say a passenger plane has skidded off the runway in snowy conditions at LaGuardia Airport.

There were no immediate reports of injuries, according to the New York City Fire Department.

It is understood that Delta Airlines Flight 1086 from Atlanta missed the runway while landing on Thursday morning amid a winter storm, and crashed into a fence.

My day so far. #crashland pic.twitter.com/dpNnGP5oQk

— Steve (@steveblaze98) March 5, 2015

The aircraft is said to have had 125 passengers and five crew members on board. Passengers were evacuated from the aircraft on slides and moved to the terminal on buses.

LaGuardia airport’s runways were closed due to what the Federal Aviation Administration described as an “aircraft incident”.

To

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WASHINGTON – Three top US airlines groups accused Qatar and the United Arab Emirates Thursday of lavishing $42 billion in subsidies on their airlines to wrest business from competitors.

The US carriers together with workers’ groups issued a 55 page report detailing how “unfair” subsidies given to Gulf rivals Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways and Emirates have allowed them to wrest market share from the US industry.

They called on the US government to raise the issue with the governments and urged changes to the bilateral commercial aviation agreements with them.

“The multi-billion dollar subsidies… have allowed Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways and Emirates to rapidly expand their fleets and international routes, distorting the commercial marketplace to the severe detriment of US employment, the US economy and the US airline industry,” the US group said.

American Airlines, Delta Airlines and United Airlines along with US pilot and airline labor groups said the three Gulf fliers have benefitted unfairly from huge interest-free loans, subsidized airport charges, government protection on fuel losses, and below-market labor costs that are considered unfair subsidies under the World Trade Organization.

The report said that, with the backing of state support, the Gulf airlines are targeting more international traffic to the United States on the back of the US “Open Skies” aviation agreements with Qatar and UAE.

It noted their huge share of orders for widebody aircraft, representing about one-quarter of the entire global fleet of widebody aircraft.

“Because the Gulf carriers are adding this new capacity at rates that substantially exceed global GDP growth — which drives growth in demand for air transport services — the only way to accomplish this feat is to continue taking passengers from other countries’ carriers,” they said.

They called on the US government to open new talks over the air agreements to address what they said are violations of those pacts, and pressed for changes.

“The Open Skies agreements conferred enormous benefits on Qatar and the UAE by opening the most lucrative market in the world to their airlines,” the group accused.

If Qatar and UAE refuse to address the problems, they recommended, the US should move to terminate the agreements and negotiate new deals based on “principles of comity and reciprocity,” the US group said.

The Delta Airlines plane came close to toppling into the icy waters of New York’s Flushing Bay.

Flight 1086 from Atlanta skidded off the runway at LaGuardia airport in snowy conditions on Thursday morning, and hit a fence before coming to rest.

Officials said all 127 passengers and five crew members were evacuated safely from the plane – a McDonnell Douglas MD-88.

My day so far. #crashland pic.twitter.com/dpNnGP5oQk

— Steve (@steveblaze98) 5 Mars 2015

Some passengers described the terrifying experience to the New York Daily News, saying there had been a sudden jolt and that the plane approached the water very quickly.

The airport’s operator praised the pilot’s actions, adding that others had experienced no problems.

“Before the incident at approximately 11.05, two planes landed and reported “good braking action” on the runways. This particular runway had been ploughed shortly before the incident and the pilots on other planes reported good braking action,” said Pat Foye, Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

The AFP news agency quoted an official as saying there had been two dozen light injuries, but that only three people were taken to hospital.

The airport was closed temporarily and was expected to reopen around 7pm local time.

The winter weather has brought snow and freezing rain across a wide part of the US.

A plane skidded off an icy runway into a fence at New York’s LaGuardia Airport today while landing during a winter storm, shutting down the airport’s runways, officials said.

Delta Flight 1086, an MD-88 arriving from Atlanta, skidded off Runway 13 around 11:05 a.m., according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

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NOW: #ESU #Harbor @FDNY PAPD at #LGA. Minor fuel spill. All passengers removed. Minor injuries @Delta @nycoem pic.twitter.com/SbYRLV9FLI

— NYPD Special Ops (@NYPDSpecialops) March 5, 2015

At least 28 passengers had non-life threatening injuries, of those injured five people were transported to hospitals, according to the Fire Department of New York.

a plane just slid off the runway at LaGuardia Airport… pic.twitter.com/LRoUHcWTsh

— Sarah Wagner (@swags201) March 5, 2015

The runway where the plane landed had been plowed just minutes before and two other pilots reported “good braking action” as they landed, according to Port Authority Executive Director Pat Foye.

Stuck at LaGuardia. There’s only one thing left to do: play terminal tinder at the airport bar

— Kevin Tschirhart (@KevinTshirt) March 5, 2015

Once the plane landed, it veered sharply left about 4,500 to 5,000 feet down the 7,000-foot runway, skidding off to the side and nearly ending up in the water, according to Foye.

An Instagram video shot shortly after the crash showed a man at the scene leaving in a stretcher.

LaGuardia’s runways were closed for most of the day, but one runway reopened at 2 p.m., according to Foye.

Officials said they were checking for a fuel leak.

The National Transportation Safety Board announced it would send an investigator to secure the flight data recorders and document the damage.

Images of the plane taken by eyewitnesses showed that it apparently crashed through a fence after skidding off the runway.

“Customers deplaned via aircraft slides and have moved to the terminal on buses,” Delta Airlines said in a statement. “Our priority is ensuring our customers and crew members are safe. Delta will work with all authorities and stakeholders to look into what happened in this incident.”

Passengers on the plane included New York Giants tight end Larry Donnell, who said he was “safe and sound” after the crash.

“I feel fine physically and hopefully all the other passengers did not have any significant injuries,” read a portion of Donnell’s statement. “We were all shocked and alarmed when the plane started to skid, but most importantly, as far as I know, all of the passengers and flight crew were able to exit the plane safely.”

An incredible photo was captured by passenger Jared Falleci from inside the plane just after it came to a stop. Falleci told ABC News he had no idea if the plane would stay out of the water as they skidded off the runway.

“I was holding on to the seat in front of me and I was praying,” he told ABC News. “It literally stopped a matter of feet, as you can see from the photos, from the water itself.”

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