ST. CROIX — A Fly the Whale flight from St. Croix safely arrived on St. Thomas Wednesday morning without any reported injuries after blowing out a tire while landing before coming to a stop in the grass, forcing the Virgin Islands Port Authority to temporarily close the runway to remove the airplane.
Raven Phillips, co-host of “The Fish Fry,” an innovative show produced by the nonprofit VI Crawl in conjunction with the Virgin Islands Source that focuses on political education geared toward millennials, was among the nine passengers aboard the aircraft. She flew on the flight while returning to St. Thomas after appearing on a panel of political analysts during WTJX’s live coverage of the general election that was filmed Tuesday night in the St. Croix studio.
Phillips said she heard a strange noise coming from one of the wheels after the flight landed on the runway at the Cyril E. King Airport. She said the experience was rattling, but pointed out the pilot handled the situation quickly and professionally.
“We touched tarmac, and the pilot kind of guided us into the grass and made a full stop in the grass,” she said. “It was a light bump, I’d say.”
Phillips said she thought it was odd the plane pulled off the runway and into the grass but noted that she did not have a full grasp of the situation until the pilot stopped the plane and explained what happened.
After turning off the engine, Phillips said the pilot informed the passengers that one of the tires blew out. She said he politely asked them to stay seated until the arrival of emergency services.
“He handled it very, very, very professionally,” she said. “I think that there was only really maybe one or two people who may have bumped their heads but other than that, it was a very safe landing.”
VIPA announced that it closed the airport’s only runway to remove the disabled aircraft after it became immobile following the tire blowout, delaying all flights until the runway was reopened. All nine passengers and the pilot reported no injuries and were safely removed, according to a VIPA news release.
Emergency personnel checked the passengers to ensure they were OK and assess if anybody needed to be transported via ambulance, Phillips said.
“Once it was clear that everybody on board was, you know, in good enough condition to just kind of come off of the plane, they opened the doors and kind of guided us out,” she said. “They had a shuttle there ready for us, and they sat us in the shuttle, did a few more medical evaluations, and then the shuttle took us to the airport proper.”
A request for comment from Fly the Whale was unsuccessful and a message was not returned as of the publication of this article.
