United Airlines Jet Makes Emergency Landing at New Jersey Airport
|
A United Airlines Airbus 319 sat on the tarmac at Newark Liberty International Airport after making an emergency landing in Newark, N.J., Sunday.
The plane was well into its final descent toward Newark Liberty International Airport on Sunday morning when it began a sudden and unmistakable climb. There was “a little problem,” the pilot told the 48 passengers aboard United Airlines Flight 634.
(...) No one was injured in the emergency landing of the plane, an Airbus A319, which left O’Hare International Airport in Chicago around 6 a.m. and landed just before 9:30 a.m., said a spokeswoman for United Airlines.
As the plane prepared to make its emergency landing, Newark Airport grew large in the cabin windows. The loudspeaker then blared: “Brace! Brace! Brace!”
With the passengers curled into defensive postures and electricity switched off, the plane touched the ground, passengers said. The plane hit gently, riding down the runway on the front wheel and the left rear wheel before tipping to the right, where the rear wheel had failed to deploy. Sparks flew as the metal underbelly of the engine ground against the tarmac, but the plane continued to slide straight.
(...) The emergency landing briefly shut down the airport, but after about 20 minutes, two of the three runways were back in operation, said a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
The Airbus remained on the third runway into the afternoon as investigators examined why its landing gear had failed, said the spokesman. The closing of the runway delayed some flights by about an hour.