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US airways plane loss tyres on take off

Published

11 years ago

March 14, 2014

A US Airways plane blew a tire during takeoff Thursday
evening at Philadelphia’s airport, an airline spokesman said, with
witnesses adding that they saw the plane “bounce” before screeching to
a halt.
Citing initial reports, US Airways spokesman Todd Lehmacher said
the commercial airliner’s pilot decided to abort takeoff following the
tire issue. Philadelphia International Airport tweeted , and photos
indicate, that the plane’s nose gear collapsed.
One person aboard ended up requesting medical assistance, said
Lehmacher. Similarly, a Philadelphia fire department spokesman told
CNN that there was one minor injury.
Passengers on the Florida-bound flight subsequently got off the plane
and onto the runway, where they were picked up.
“Our crew safely evacuated the passengers,” Lehmacher said. “We
are accommodating passengers on a new aircraft, which is scheduled
to depart later this evening.”
Flight 1702 was scheduled to take off at 5:50 p.m. and arrive in Fort
Lauderdale about three hours later, according to US Airways’
website , though Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Jim
Peters said the incident took place around 6:25 p.m.
Watching from a nearby plane, Dave Olinger said, “I saw the plane
come down with its landing gear (hitting) the ground abnormally hard
and it bounced back into the air. Then it continued to try to land and it
went out of my view as I saw a massive cloud of dust come up from
behind it.”
A witness in an airport terminal, posting to the online travel
community FlyerTalk.com , reported seeing the plane “bounce twice
on takeoff.”
The aircraft, an Airbus A320 with 149 passengers and five crew
members on board, never caught fire, said Lechmacher.
Images from the airport afterward showed the plane pitched forward,
but otherwise upright, and surrounded by flashing emergency vehicles.
One showed the plane at a standstill as some people left from an
emergency slide and others got out on the wing.
“So my plane just crashed,” tweeted one apparent passenger . A short
time later and minutes before taking a selfie at the scene , she added, “I
almost just died.”
Departing and incoming flights at the Pennsylvania airport were
temporarily halted. Some of them resumed around 6:55 p.m., Peters
said, though one runway remained closed about one hour after that.
The incident ended up causing significant travel headaches, and not
just for those on Flight 1702. The airport noted there were departure
delays of about 1 hour, with airport spokeswoman Victoria Lupica
saying arrival delays stretched up to 2 hours.
Source :CNN