NTSB Finds Evidence Of Slippery Banana Peel On Runway

04.01.05 Special Edition: After NTSB investigators made a startling discovery at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey on Tuesday, the Port Authority of New York And New Jersey this week instituted a complete and immediate ban on the importation of tropical fruits at the field.

Investigators said they found a banana peel on the runway, leading them to speculate that the tropical fruit was at least partially responsible for the February 2nd incident where a Bombardier Challenger 601 slid off the end of the runway at high speed without ever becoming airborne.

"Yup, it's as bad as we thought," said the NTSB's new principle investigator, John Brannen. "Banana peels. Lots of 'em."

In fact, there were at least a dozen spent banana casings scattered along the runway, leading Brannen to contact officers with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency. "We think the Bombardier may have been smuggling as much as 2,000 pounds of bananas," said Frederico Cordovan, a spokesman for ICE. "Now they're 2,000 pounds of mashed bananas."

"Fiendish," said corporate pilot Dave Elliott. "We thought there was a chance terrorists would hit a small, corporate airport. But we never expected the ol' slip-on-a-banana-peel gag. It's diabolical."

But ICE agents and investigator Brannen weren't so sure that terrorism was at the root of the February 2nd accident. "This could have been simple carelessness on the part of some maintenance monkey," Brannen said. New Jersey State Police were in the process Thursday of detaining suspects. They released an artist's conception of one suspect thought to be hiding in Trenton.

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