A U.S. Airways plane’s landing gear failed when the aircraft landed at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston on Monday. Flight 1825 was flying in from Philadelphia when pilots had to make several passes over the airport before landing, USA Today reports. The FAA reveals that the plane’s nose gear was in the “up” position and wouldn’t release.
According to the report, 53 passengers were on board, with four crew members, on the Embraer 190. All of them exited the plane on chutes at about 9:30 p.m. One of the passengers was taken to a local hospital for injuries, but they weren’t said to be serious.
Eyewitness News 13 reports that the experience was harrowing for some passengers on the U.S. Airways plane without the nose gear working. Janice Mumma was among one of the fliers and told the news source that everyone was told to “brace, brace, brace.” They were informed that it would be a rough ride for the landing.
When the airplane finally landed, sparks were seen on the runway, which resulted from the nose portion of the aircraft hitting it. It appeared to be worse than it actually was, much to the relief of the passengers.
Olin Johnson describes the scene that unfolded on the aircraft.
“Then they said it looks like the landing gear’s not out. We’re going to have to have a crash landing. That’s when it kind of got scary, because the pilot, you could hear it in his voice he was nervous.”
Another passenger — Dan Hanson — says crew told them to keep their head down, but “everything’s telling you to keep your head up and look around. But then when we actually hit, it really wasn’t that bad.”
Some of the passengers grew nervous while others remained calm and quiet. A strong odor of burning rubber spread throughout the plane’s cabin. By the end of it all, everyone was alright and they thought the pilot did a great job.
The U.S. Airways’ landing gear for that plane is being investigated by the FAA.
It wasn’t long ago that U.S. Airways was in the news for another incident, but the event had nothing to do with a crash landing. In December, the Inquisitr wrote about a bizarre case of vomiting that affected several passengers and crew due to an unusual odor filling the cabin. The plane had to make an emergency landing in Italy.
[Photo Credit: USA Today via KHOU-TV, Houston]
