Garfield Ridge residents on Midway Airport’s north side said they are used to being in the shadow of the airport, used to seeing planes coming and going. Always in the back of their minds, they worry about a plane crashing into their homes or on their block.
Still, they were not prepared for the sight they saw Thursday evening: A plane–Southwest Airlines Boeing 737– sitting in the middle of 55th Street and Central Avenue.
“We just see the planes go by. You never see them on the ground and crashed liked this,” said Lisa Wilk, 23, who ran from her home about five blocks from the airport’s edge after her father told her he heard “a boom.”
“We looked and saw the plane just sitting out there,” she said.
Natalie Joanna lives on South Luna Avenue, less than a block from the airport’s northwest corner.
“We were shocked,” she said. “I guess it could happen anywhere. Our houses are right here.”
Fernando Ruiz, 44, whose house is in the 5400 block of South Central Avenue, was shoveling snow with his wife when the plane pushed through the fence separating the airport from the streets.
“The first thing I heard was the sirens,” Ruiz said. “There’s a metal fence right around the corner and the plane went right through the fence. It’s not chain-link, more like a sheet-metal fence.
“With all this snow, it was probably slippery enough that he was already braking, but he skidded.”
Al Sadovi, 46, has lived at South Archer and South Central Avenues for about 20 years and has always felt that the fence created a problem–no one on the road would be able to see when a plane was headed toward them.
“And I always thought if a plane starts skidding, you’re a sitting duck,” he said.