Icy roads spark crashes; jet off Bend Airport runway
(Update: Bend, More on jet off Bend Airport runway upon landing)
Overnight rain showers and temperatures dropping to right around freezing combined to trigger numerous slide-offs and crashes around the High Desert on Tuesday morning, authorities said. It also may have played a role in a different sort of slide-off – at the Bend Airport, where a private plane went off the runway while landing.
Deschutes County sheriff’s deputies and Oregon State Police troopers had responded to a half-dozen crashes and slide-offs by about 8:30 a.m., including one on Highway 97 near Deschutes Junction, between Bend and Redmond, where a vehicle lost.control and struck a guardrail.
That driver sustained minor injuries, Bailey said, and there were no reports of serious injuries in other crashes around the region. A single-vehicle non-injury rollover crash was reported around 9:20 a.m. on Baker Road at the Highway 97 overpass.
The sergeant warned of extremely slick, ice-covered roadways throughout the area and urged drivers to “please slow down and give yourself extra time to reach your destination.”
An Embraer 505 Phenom 300 jet with six people aboard went off the runway as it landed shortly before 8 a.m., Federal Aviation Administration regional spokesman Allen Kenitzer said. The six people aboard were reported uninjured.
While the FAA will investigate the nature of the incident, Airport Manager Gary Judd acknowledged roads in the area were icy at the time and “just like highways, runways are asphalt” and can get icy.
Judd said the plane did not appear to have any damage but went over the side of a slope at the end of the runway and was left sitting at a 30-degree angle.
The airport was open in limited fashion Tuesday morning, as the plane was not blocking most operations, Judd said.
NewsChannel 21’s Emily Kirk said the overnight showers cleared out much of the fog but set up the icy conditions experienced by drivers. She said highs would top out in the mid to upper 40s and more clouds are due later in the day.
Bend Airport broke out of the fog and climbed to 34 degrees by 9 a.m., whiled Redmond Airport rose to 36 by that time.
Check the latest road conditions at our ODOT TripCheck page.
