Wheeler Downtown Airport reopens after airplane slid off runway in icy weather

The Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport has reopened after being closed for several hours Wednesday when an airplane landing in icy weather slid off of a runway.

The mishap came on a morning when icy weather caused problems all over the Kansas City area, leading to traffic wrecks and prompting schools to cancel classes.

About 4:30 a.m. an Embraer Phenom 100 light jet was landing on a south runway and rolled off into a safety area.

The pilot was the only person on board and was reported unharmed, according to an airport spokesman. There was no damage to the airplane.

The airport was closed while federal authorities investigated the incident, said Joe McBride, a spokesman for the city’s Aviation Department.

Freezing precipitation on the runway surface created slick conditions, airport officials said. Field maintenance crews pretreated the runway with a deicing agent.

This story was originally published February 27, 2019 at 9:54 AM.