Southwest Plane Lands Without Front Wheel at LaGuardia
admin July 22, 2013
Southwest flight 345 from Nashville landed at New York-LaGuardia without its front wheels. CNN is reporting that LaGuardia is temporarily allowing other planes to land.
According to Twitter user contog, who was on the scene, emergency vehicles have been slow to respond.
The plane was carrying 149 passengers and crew. Though there were initially conflicting reports of injuries, the AP reports there were none confirmed, though four suffered anxiety attacks. [Update: In a statement from Southwest, five passengers and three crew members were injured.]
The NTSB has issued the following message via Twitter: “Investigators are gathering info on this evening’s Southwest flight 345 incident while landing at LaGuardia.”
Planespotters.net data shows that the Boeing 737-700 aircraft involved in the incident is 13.8 years old.
UPDATE: 7:20p.m. EDT. Southwest airlines has issued the following statement:
“Southwest Airlines flight 345 landed at New York’s LaGuardia at 5:40 PM Eastern Monday evening from Nashville. The aircraft is a Boeing 737-700. Eyewitness reports indicate the aircraft’s nose gear collapsed upon landing. There were 150 people on board including Customers and Crew. All Customers have been deplaned and transferred to the terminal. Initial reports indicate local responders are caring for five Customers and three flight attendants who have reported injuries at this time. Southwest is cooperating with local authorities, and the NTSB has been notified.”
[Photo: simrinplayerofficial]
Those on the plane will always think emergency services were slow. Have you ever had to call the police/fire/ambulance in an emergency? It seems to take forever for them to arrive when in fact it is probably only a few minutes.
Huge props to the pilots who landed the plane.
It's not backwards. You are just not used to seeing it that way. It's not possible to put a real cloth flag on a stick on the back of a plane, so they use stickers that simulate the same thing. Many things in aviation are based on nautical traditions. The flag is also always placed that way, it's meant to show the flag advancing and not retreating, the American Flag Never Retreats!
According to the FAA, emergency crews were on scene in 5:20. NOt to bad considering the sequents of events, call from plane to tower, tower dispatches FR Crews, Crews dash to vehicles, drive to the far end of the runway. It's not like they sit in their trucks at the edge of the runway and wait for "an emergency to happen"
Can anyone explain why the american flag is backwards?