Those of you that know me know that I am a huge fan of LSU sports, my alma mater. Well, today, my love of LSU sports and aviation collided in the form of a Breeze Airways Embraer 190. The plane was chartered to transport the LSU Gymnastics team to Fort Worth Texas to compete in Nationals. The team boarded the plane in Baton Rouge prior to a scheduled 2:40p departure and taxied out to the runway.
During the taxi, the plane had one of its landing gear go off into a grassy area along the taxiway and get stuck in the mud. The team was removed from the plane and that aircraft (N108BZ) remains on the ground at this time.
The airline ferried another Embraer E190 (N114BZ) from nearby New Orleans to take the team to Fort Worth. The new aircraft arrived in Baton Rouge a few minutes ago and the team is expected to arrive in Fort Worth around 2.5 hours late.
Hopefully the Tigers have better luck at Nationals than they did getting there.
UPDATE: As of 5:30p local time, an LSU spokesperson confirmed that the team was preparing to depart.
UPDATE #2: Breeze is currently scheduled to ferry N108BZ, the airplane involved in the incident, to New Orleans this afternoon as MX8208.
