Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Situational Awareness
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown; Ground Incursion Taxiway
Air Traffic Control Provided Assistance; Flight Crew Requested ATC Assistance / Clarification; General Maintenance Action
Human Factors; Chart Or Publication; ATC Equipment / Nav Facility / Buildings; Procedure
As we were getting ready to depart ZZZ1; I was going over the release with my FO and placed good emphasis on the NOTAMS that were given to us for ZZZ1 and ZZZ. We noticed some taxiway closures in ZZZ and briefed it. With this information we determined that the runway was in good condition for landing and that taxiway Juliet was probably going to be the one that we were going to use since there was no NOTAM associated with this taxiway. This is also in my experience the taxiway we normally use to roll out when we land on this runway given the Embraer 145 landing performance. Weather was VMC.We departed with no issues. Approached and landed with the Control Tower closed at our time of arrival. FO was pilot monitoring and he was making the required position reports on CTAF before landing. After landing I slowed down the aircraft to a safe taxi speed and rolled out the runway on taxiway Juliet which had the edge blue taxi lights on clearly illuminated as well as the Juliet taxiway sign; confirming that the taxiway was indeed open. After we turned into Juliet; we noticed there was snow on the taxiway but from the cockpit view there was no way for us to determine its thickness (especially at night time). We felt how the aircraft came to a stop and was no longer able to move under its own power. At the moment it created some confusion because there was no NOTAM indicating any amount of snow or contamination on that segment of the taxiway. I tried to move my Thrust Lever Angle (TLA) to about a 50% a couple of times and tried to move the steering hand wheel with differential thrust to see if I could get out of it but the aircraft was still not moving. After we got stuck someone apparently from Airport Operations talked to us on the radio and said: 'You are gonna have to take it to the end of the runway'. But of course; it was too late. At that point I realized that I did not want to risk damaging the landing gear by continuous use of thrust to try to get out of it; so I determined the best course of action was to get help to be moved. The person from Airport Ops talking on the radio said that they were going to come up and take a look and see if they could find a tug and tow us a few feet back so we could get back to the runway and taxi to the end of it and then taxi to the terminal. This was a slow process and it was very hard to communicate with them since they were just walking a lot around the aircraft trying to figure out what was the best way of doing it. Communication with the ground personnel was probably the most difficult and most frustrating issue we had all night. We were also communicating with Company ops and I believe they helped the ground personnel get a handheld device to talk to them later on. At the same time I tried to keep the passengers and the FA updated of what was going on as often as I could. FA said that everyone remained calm during the whole event and there was no issues with the passengers. We also sent an ACARS to dispatch and we were in constant communication during the entire event. When we were finally able to communicate with the ground personnel they said that they found a small tug on the field and were going to try to tow us back. They tried a couple of different ways of doing it but they said they needed bigger equipment to do this. They informed me that they notified a local Industrial Towing company to come to the field to help us out. As I was informing dispatch about everything that was going on; we agreed along with Maintenance Control that the best course of action was to wait for maintenance to get to the field first before any heavy equipment touched the aircraft. Me and my FO coordinated with ground operations to deplane the passengers using stairs and get them to the terminal safely in the SUVs that the airport had for us; since there was NO BUSES available. The FO and FA did a great job helping to make this process smooth and safe. The total time we spent on the ground after landing and opening the main door for the passengers to deplane was about 1.5 hours. We deplaned in groups of 5-10 people at a time and kept the rest of the people inside the aircraft until the SUVs were able to come back and pick up more people. This part of the event did not take long and everyone deplaned safely. After everyone deplaned we also noticed ground personnel were taking the bags from the baggage compartment and loaded those in the SUVs. Talked to the Chief Pilot as well and he recommended us to go to the hotel to get some rest; and that is what we did. He was very supportive and the next day before our departure time back to ZZZ1 he called me back to make sure we were rested and ok to operate; and we were. I was told the aircraft was towed to the terminal in the morning and inspected to be in good condition by maintenance and returned to service. The day continued normally.There were several things that caused this event. The main cause of this was the fact that the contaminated taxiway was open. That taxiway was not in good condition and it should have been closed at some point during the day. It was a VFR evening so I believe there was plenty of time to determine this taxiway was supposed to be closed.The second main cause was the fact that no one decided to create a NOTAM showing the type of contamination and depth on Taxiway Juliet between Runway XX and Taxiway A for crews to at least be aware of the condition of that taxiway before landing. For some reason they created a NOTAM specifying there was 1/8 Inch of Dry Snow over Ice on Juliet between Taxiway Alpha and Foxtrot; but nothing between Runway XX and Alpha.Third cause was that the Control Tower just closed 11 minutes before we landed. Meaning that the controller was probably directing all aircraft that landed prior to us to taxi to the end of the runway and exit there instead of rolling out on Juliet. We did not have a controller to tell us anything; and at night time everything is more difficult to see.Another 'probable' cause was that once the controller closed the Tower; he could have probably advised on his/her ASOS recording not to use taxiway Juliet along with the other closed taxiways to exit the runway. There was nothing on the ASOS to advise us of the condition of taxiway Juliet. I use the term 'probable' because I don't know if that is something that he/she can do.After the aircraft got stuck; I tried to get it out of it by advancing the TLA; tried using the hand wheel and tried differential thrust. None of that worked. Then tried to get it towed back to the runway with the help of a small tug so I could then taxi to the terminal using a different taxiway and that did not work either. At that point we decided it was better to deplane the people safely to the terminal on the SUVs provided by the airport. Constantly communicated with Company; FO and FA; passengers; Operations; Maintenance and ended by talking to the Chief Pilot before going to the hotel.Airport MUST close taxiways that are not safe for operations. Taxiway Juliet was open and edge blue lights were illuminated. Create a NOTAM to advise crews about the contamination of the taxiway and depth. Keep Control Tower open at least during airline operations. Add important NOTAMS and other important information for crews on the ASOS after Tower closes. Do a better job at plowing taxiways.
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EMB-145 flight crew reported the aircraft unable to taxi to the gate under its own power due to taxiway conditions.