NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — The plane of Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence skidded off the runway while landing at LaGuardia Airport Thursday night.

No injuries were reported. Pence told reporters he is fine.

The plane was carrying Pence, his family, staffers and the press covering the campaign.

“Gov. Pence and everyone on board is fine,” said Pence press secretary Marc Lotter. “There were no injuries.”

Pence headed to the hotel he was staying at following the scare.

As CBS2’s Kristine Johnson reported the terrifying landing happened just before 8 p.m.

CBS News campaign reporter Alan He said Pence checked on the press to make sure everyone was OK.

“We had no idea we had skidded off the runway until Gov. Pence came to the back of the plane and said we may have done that,” He told CBSN.

He added that these hard landings have become commonplace.

“No one expected anything like this,” He told CBSN.

The FDNY said the 737 went through a fence.

The plane made a rough impact when it landed. The pilot slammed on the brakes and travelers could smell burning rubber. The plane also tore through tracks of concrete as it came to rest in a grassy area.

Aviation experts said the runway is designed to break up in a situation like this.

“The broken concrete that you’re talking about is Engineered Material Arresting System, which was installed at LaGuardia Airport and a few other airports that I would put in that same varsity category, Midway being one of them. Short runways with fast aircraft coming in,” said CNN aviation analyst Miles O’Brien. “It is designed to break apart on the weight of the landing gear, and top the aircraft from going further. If it were not here, in this case, it’s very likely this aircraft would be in the East River.”

It was raining at the time the plane landed. A law enforcement official told CBS News that it appears a very wet runway contributed to the incident.

Pence says mud splashed on the front windows of the cockpit.

“We can see mud on the front windows,” a calm Pence said in the press cabin about a minute after the plane came to rest.

The roughly 40 passengers and crew, including Pence, were evacuated through the back of the plane.

“There were no injuries tonight when a charter plane carrying Republican Vice Presidential Nominee Mike Pence and more than 30 others overshot a LaGuardia Airport runway. There was no fire and passengers are off the plane,” the Port Authority said in a statement.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump called Pence following the hard landing and told him he was glad everyone is safe.

Lotter said the Indiana governor will continue with his campaign appearances on Friday. Pence even took a minute to pose with firefighters on the runway after getting off the plane.

CBS News’ Kris Van Cleave reports Eastern Airlines, a Miami-based charter that flies 737s, operates the plane.

LaGuardia was previously closed, but one of two runways has reopened for arriving and departing

----- snip -----

read full article at source: http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2016/10/27/mike-pence-plane-laguardia/