By Michael Lee Simpson

A plane overshot the runway while landing at a Virginia airport during heavy rain.

The commercial aircraft landed in the concrete safety zone at Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport in Virginia on Wednesday, Sept. 24.

The advanced safety system prevented what could have been a catastrophic accident, airport officials said.

The incident occurred just before 10:00 p.m. EST during heavy rain conditions when a United flight landed beyond the runway and came to rest in the airport's engineered materials arrestor system (EMAS).

"The pilot shared on air traffic control that there were no injuries, but they were in the EMAS," said Alexa Briehl, 38, the airport's PR marketing and media manager and spokesperson in Roanoke.

The specialized safety technology, which co

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