On September 24, the overshot landing of a plane in Roanoke, Virginia, left the 53 on board frightened — though ultimately safe.
CommuteAir Flight 4339 departed from Washington Dulles International Airport on a United Express route. The landing happened around 9:18 p.m. at Virginia’s Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport, according to state police, who informed USA Today.
Local news source WDBJ reported that the regional airport’s runway is short, and CommuteAir Flight 4339 didn’t have enough time to completely stop before running into the flight hub’s Engineered Materials Arrestor System (EMAS). The local outlet described the latter as a safety net of sorts. The EMAS is reportedly made up of “crushable concrete blocks” that stop a plane in its tracks when it overruns the runway…