A LATAM Airlines passenger plane carrying 145 passengers and six crew members lost control and skidded off the runway after landing at Cascavel Airport in Brazil.
The aircraft was completing a domestic flight from São Paulo to Cascavel when rain was falling across the airfield. Aviation news portal Simple Flying reported that the bad weather caused the airliner to slide across the surface of the landing strip before traveling past the end of the runway and becoming stuck in mud.
No injuries were reported among the 151 people on board the aircraft. Ground handling staff disembarked the passengers in a routine manner and transported them to the airport terminal building by bus.
Flight conditions and runway safety
A runway excursion is an aviation safety term for an event where an aircraft unexpectedly leaves the designated runway surface during landing or takeoff. When rain falls on an airfield, standing water can trigger aquaplaning, a condition in which tires lose traction on wet tarmac.
Once an aircraft rolls off paved surfaces onto unpaved ground, soft soil or mud can sink under the weight of the landing gear. Trapped airframes often require ground crews to inspect the landing gear and deploy specialized towing equipment to extract the plane back onto hard pavement.
Regional transport and airline background
Cascavel is a major commercial center located in the western region of Paraná state in southern Brazil. Its regional airport connects the interior of Paraná to São Paulo, Brazil's largest city and the economic center of South America, which handles millions of air passengers every month.
LATAM Airlines Group is the largest airline enterprise in Latin America, operating extensive domestic networks in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. The group was established following the historic merger between Chilean carrier LAN Airlines and Brazilian carrier TAM Linhas Aéreas.
Aviation safety agencies routinely review runway overrun incidents to assess runway friction coefficients, drainage infrastructure, and operational safety protocols during adverse weather.
