Video Shows Terrifying Moment Plane Skids Off Runway

Dramatic footage has captured the moment a passenger jet skidded across a wet and icy runway, shooting up plumes of water spray and mud as it veered on to a grass verge when it came in to land.

The incident, reportedly involving an A320-200 plane, is said to have happened at Vilnius Airport in the capital city of Lithuania. The aircraft belonged to Lithuanian company Avion Express.

An Avion Express spokesperson for the company told Newsweek that the aircraft "slid off the landing runway after touchdown."

"An investigation is currently underway, both by Avion Express and by the authorities, which will reveal what may have caused the incident," said Avion Express's head of communications, Rolanda Lipneviciute. "The most important thing is that all the 179 passengers and six crew members are safe and have not suffered any injuries during the incident."

The incident comes amid a spate of widely reported near-misses between planes, deadly crashes, and stomach-churning severe turbulence. Earlier this month, Alaska Airlines grounded its entire fleet of Boeing 737 MAX-9 aircraft after a section of fuselage broke off one of its planes mid-flight. But in fact, experts insist that American air travel remains safe and it is statistically safer than traveling by car, according to government figures.

The clip of this weekend's skidding plane was shared online on Sunday by @AFlyGuyTravels, a social media account on X (formerly Twitter) that posts content about the aviation industry. It can be viewed below.

The clip was captioned: "An Avion Express A320-200 landing at Vilnius Airport briefly skidded off the runway, onto the grass and mud, before safely returning to the runway to continue its dirty taxi to the apron."

Initial news reports about the incident have claimed that 179 passengers were on board at the time, as the plane made its descent following a two-hour flight from the Italian city of Bergamo on Saturday.

The pilot was able to regain control of the aircraft and there were no reported injuries, although the plane is said to have suffered damage to its lower panels.

The cause of the skid is still under investigation. But a summary of the incident posted on independent aviation news website the Aviation Herald read: "An Avion Express Airbus A320-200[...]from Milan Bergamo (Italy) to Vilnius (Lithuania), landed on Vilnius' runway[...]but veered right off the runway onto soft ground, went across a turnoff and returned onto the runway centerline at about 5 knots (5.7 mph) over ground. The aircraft subsequently vacated the runway via the next turn off and taxied to the apron. The aircraft sustained substantial damage."

The plane was still grounded in Vilnius some six hours after landing, the website noted, and photographs shared with the publication showed that the fuselage had been ripped open underneath the plane.

Some of the commentators reading the story expressed surprise that the pilot had continued to keep the engines running and taxi the aircraft as usual afterward, considering the near-miss and possible damage caused.

Update 02/05/24, 11:28 a.m. ET: This article was updated with a statement from Avion Express.