Frontier plane freed from mud at New Castle Airport

About 21 ¹/₂ hours after getting stuck in mud at the New Castle Airport, a Frontier Airlines plane has been freed, an airport official said.

Airport ground crews, including members of the nearby Delaware Air National Guard, worked through Monday to free the plane, which had been bound to Orlando, Florida. The plane was freed from the mud about 6:45 p.m. Monday, said Stephen Williams, director of airports for the Delaware River and Bay Authority – the airport's operator.

"The ground crews here did a good job working together," Williams said.

Crews could be seen Monday evening working on the spot where the plane was stuck for nearly a day. The plane was not far away being inspected by Frontier crews. Williams said they were trying to make sure it was ready to fly.

Flight 1435 was cleared to head toward runway 1 at 9:17 p.m. Sunday when it left the pavement, causing the nose gear and the right main gear to become lodged in the soil, Williams said.

"All of a sudden we felt a big jolt," passenger Wanda Fonner of Dover said. "Then they made an announcement that the wheel was in the grass."

She said passengers were told to get their luggage and get off the plane.

"It wasn't just one wheel in the grass," Fonner said. "It was like the pilot tried to do a U-turn."

No injuries were reported.

Operations at the airport were not affected.

Contact Esteban Parra at (302) 324-2299, eparra@delawareonline.com or Twitter @eparra3.