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Gov. Mike Pence resumes campaigning after his plane slid off runway at LaGuardia Thursday

Posted at 8:03 PM, Oct 27, 2016
and last updated 2016-10-29 02:41:51-04

NEW YORK -- Governor Mike Pence's campaign plane slid off the runway at New York's LaGuardia Airport Thursday evening, tearing up the track before it came to a rest. 

According to the FAA none of the plane's 37 passengers were injured. An NTSB was sent to New York to investigate. 

U.S. Secret Service agents rushed to the front of the plane to check on Pence once it stopped. Reporters on board said Pence made sure they were all right before exiting the plane. 

"It was a low ceiling," Pence said Friday on Good Morning America. "It was a landing at LaGuardia and we just immediately felt heavy breaking on the runway and the plane fishtailed a little bit. Just for a few seconds, you could feel us bouncing off. With mud splattered up on the windows we figured we were off the runway, but thank God everybody was fine."

The plane was going to New York from Iowa after Pence made a campaign stop on Thursday. The Associated Press reports that his plane had a rough landing at the airport in Fort Dodge Thursday afternoon, but was able to stay on the runway. 

"I'm just really grateful for some quick action, not only by the pilots, but also by the first responders who seemed like they were on the scene at LaGuardia before the aircraft came to a halt," Pence said. "My son is a Marine Corps aviator and Michael always tells us 'Every landing you walk away from is a good one.'"

His plane was delayed in Iowa because of the weather in New York. While there, Pence spent some time tossing a football around on the tarmac with some of the passengers on his flight. 

The plane, which is chartered from Eastern Airlines is a Boeing 737-700 that is approximately 18.5 years old.

The pilot was cleared to land at LaGuardia at approximately 7:38 p.m, according the air traffic control audio below. Just under two minutes later you can hear the tower operator react saying, “EASTERN! STOP! STOP! EASTERN!”

As the pilot landed he reportedly slammed on his breaks, causing the plane to slide sideways. It tore up part of the track before coming to rest in a grassy patch. The plane did not hit anything. Passengers on board reported that they could smell rubber burning. 

LaGuardia Airport closed both runways Thursday evening but later reopened one of them. Flights were resumed around 10 p.m. 

Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump was attending a rally in Geneva, Ohio on Thursday evening when the plane landed. He told his supporters there "I just spoke to our future vice president and he's OK. He was in a big accident with a plane. The plane skidded off the runway and was pretty close to grave, grave danger. He's fine, he got out, everybody's fine."

Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton tweeted: "Glad to hear @mike_pence, his staff, Secret Service, and the crew are all safe. -H"

After the incident, Pence went to his New York City hotel where he again told reporters that he was OK. Pence has campaign stops in Bensalem, Pennsylvania and Smithfield, North Carolina on Friday and at Jacksonville, North Carolina on Saturday.