University Of Michigan Basketball Plane Slides Off Runway In Vicious Winds

A plane carrying University of Michigan basketball players slid off the runway at a Ypsilanti airport Wednesday as wind gusts topped 65 miles an hour in southeast Michigan. No one was injured, but the plane was unable to take off. The Wolverines are making alternative travel plans to Washington, D.C., for the Big Ten Tournament.

In a tweet, team officials wrote that after the plane attempted to take off in high winds, takeoff was aborted and, after strong braking, it slid off the runway.

Winds whipped at up to 65 mph, downing power lines and leaving as many as 675,000 Michigan customers without power. The hardest hit areas were in the counties of Wayne, Oakland, Macomb and Washtenaw, where the Ypsilanti airport is located. The number of power outages could increase, DTE Energy said.

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Team officials and players lit up Twitter with the posts of the disabled aircraft and an account of the aborted takeoff.