GMA's Ginger Zee involved in plane incident after 'system failure'

Ginger Zee had a terrifying experience earlier this week after the plane she was traveling in was forced to make an emergency landing.

The GMA chief meteorologist shared an update on Tuesday, revealing that shortly after take-off at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, the plane suffered a “hydraulics system failure” and had to land at JFK.

Accompanying her post, Ginger shared photos that appeared to be taken from the airplane’s window of emergency vehicles and firefighters standing near the wing of the plane.

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“Not an April fool’s joke… our plane took off from LGA but just turned around and had an emergency landing at JFK because of a hydraulics system failure,” she wrote.

“Fire trucks all around but thankfully just precaution. Many thanks to these heroes who are always ready.”

Expressing her gratitude for a safe landing, Ginger concluded: “So grateful to be on the ground. Hope you all have a safe day too.”

Her followers were also grateful that the “terrifying” experience saw Ginger unharmed, with one commenting: “Oh my terrifying glad you’re safe.”

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A second said: “Glad you are all safe, your crew did a great job of keeping everyone safe.” A third added: “Scary stuff even if it is just precautionary. Stay safe Ginger.”

A representative for New York’s LaGuardia Airport told People: “Delta flight DL856 landed safely at 12:30 p.m. at JFK with no reported injuries or further incident.”

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Ginger is no stranger to frightening situations that go hand in hand with her role at GMA, often braving the elements during her travels around the country to report on various weather developments, including storms and tornados.

Ginger was officially promoted to ABC News Chief Meteorologist on December 2, 2013, taking over from Sam Champion after he left the network to take a job with The Weather Channel.

In December 2023, she took to Instagram to mark the huge decade milestone with a clip of Sam unofficially passing off the baton (or rain boots) to her to mark the occasion.

In the caption alongside the clip, she wrote: “Tomorrow marks 10 years since I officially became chief meteorologist at ABC News (I honestly didn’t realize it was this date – until my friend @producerrob sent me this video as a celebration gift) – 12 years in total here at @abcnews, it’s a ride that’s beyond my wildest dreams.” 

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She continued: “The gratitude is oozing out of me today and every day as we keep growing this ultimate weather and now climate team. Can’t wait to see what we do next,” and proceeded to thank all her colleagues as well as her husband, Ben Aaron.

The GMA official Instagram page also shared the moment and adorably wrote: “Happy 10 year anniversary to @ginger_zee becoming our chief meteorologist! What a wonderful ray of sunshine in our lives.”

She replied: “So many outstanding moments after that! from standing in the only Cat 5 to starting the climate unit with my team. Can’t wait to see what the next decade brings.”