The following is a NY Daily News article from Dec 21, 1995

A Miami-bound jumbo jet carrying 467 people skidded off a runway at Kennedy Airport during take-off yesterday, coming to rest in a snowy field.

Twenty-eight passengers on board were injured, but officials said none of the injuries appeared serious.

Witnesses said it was amazing no one was killed.

“It’s just a miracle it was not a major disaster,” an air traffic controller at Kennedy Airport told the Daily News.

“The plane left the runway and crossed two taxiways. Normally you have planes in that intersection.

“This plane crossed through that intersection. It’s a complete miracle you didn’t have two 747s collide.

“Also, the plane hit a transformer that could have sparked an explosion but didn’t.”

Among the passengers was Rabbi Moses Teitelbaum, 80-year-old grand rebbe of the Satmar Hasidic Jewish movement.

The rabbi was not injured and his spokesman, Isaac Abraham, said:

“It’s possible that his presence just the fact of having such a religious figure on board saved the lives of many others.”

Kennedy Airport was closed for several hours following the mishap.

Both the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board immediately launched an investigation into the cause of the crash landing.

The mishap occurred at 11:30 a.m. as Tower Air Flight 41 was departing Kennedy to Miami on Runway 4 during yesterday’s snowstorm.

National Transportation Safety Board investigator Chuck Leonard said the plane was a third of the way into its take-off run 2,100 feet down the runway when it suddenly swerved to the left, off the runway and onto a grassy area.

Although there was a stiff crosswind, it was not known if that contributed to the accident.

The skidding, out-of-control jet struck a concrete structure which houses an electrical power vault, shearing the far right engine off the four-engine aircraft.

The plane continued to skid about another 300 feet until it came to a stop nose down in a pile of snow near the airport’s International Arrivals Building, its nose gear and the right side landing gear collapsed into twisted metal.

“The plane sustained heavy damage,” said Leonard.

Port Authority Police Officer Peter Johnson was the first to reach the collap sed jet.

He climbed a portable ladder into the passenger compartment and described passengers as remarkably calm after their horrifying experience.

“This doesn’t feel like Miami,” said one passenger.

Passengers were removed by portable stairs police brought up to the jet.

A dozen of the 28 passengers injured were treated at the scene.

Sixteen others were taken to nearby hospitals in Queens, including one passenger who suffered chest pains and two who were removed from the plane on boards, their heads immobilized. Most of the injuries involved bumps and bruises, said officials.

Tower Air President Morris Nachtomi insisted the Boeing 747 had been de-iced prior to take-off.

“We followed every procedure to make sure it was safe,” he declared.

Tower spokeswoman Margaret Taylor said an icy runway, caused by two days of snow and cold temperatures, was the suspected cause of the accident.

But Port Authority spokesman Bill Cahill disputed that claim, saying, “We keep the runways de-iced and plowed and we do it all day long in conditions like this. The runway was treated and well within FAA guidelines at the time of the incident.”

For passengers who had their trip to the sunny climes of Florida come to a skidding halt, the experience was terrifying.

Some were crying, others praying as the plane skidded out of control and luggage from overhead racks spilled out on top of them.

Passenger Steven Honig estimated the jet was going about 200 mph when it began to skid.

“It started shaking and tilted to the left,” he said. “Then it went down.”

Passenger Lottie Kleniec of Queens thought, “I was dead. People started screaming. Thank God we’re alive.”

The interrupted Miami-bound group was taken to Tower offices and somewhat incredibly, the vast majority of them caught a later Tower flight to Miami.

Tower owner Nachtomi joined the group and flew to Miami with them.

“I’m flying to show I have complete confidence in the crew and the airlines’ procedures,” he said.

(Source: NY Daily News)