Busted jet lands safely!
Twisted gear stirs 3 hours of fear for 146 on plane
BY LEO STANDORA
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
New York-bound flight 292, with its landing gear on fire, screeches down LAX runway.
A crippled New York-bound jetliner screeched safely to a halt yesterday, sparks spewing from its twisted landing gear - to the relief of passengers who had monitored the drama on the plane's TVs.
The JetBlue airliner, carrying 146 people, circled the skies over California for three hours to burn off fuel before its pilots made the white-knuckled emergency landing at Los Angeles International Airport.
The tense drama, followed minute by minute on cable news stations, ended with only the flare of friction-caused flames shooting from the troubled landing gear, hinting at a disaster that might have been.
JetBlue Flight 292 rolled to a stop on LAX's 10,000-foot-long Runway 25 with plenty of room to spare at 6:19 p.m. Shaken passengers, who minutes before were mumbling prayers and stifling tears, burst into applause in tribute to the cool-headed pilots and crew.
"It was the smoothest landing I ever had," one passenger said.
Everyone was taken off in an orderly fashion - some even smiling - down a movable stairway.
The landing climaxed an afternoon of high tension as the Airbus A320 circled over the Pacific offLos Angeles, flying at low altitude to burn as much of its35,000 pounds of fuel as possible while officials decided what to do.
Passengers even watched TV coverage aboard the plane until televisions and air conditioning were turned off about four minutes before the landing.
"It was a very eerie feeling to know we were in that aircraft," which was shown on TV circling the airport, Howard Averill, an NBC employee, told MSNBC moments after landing.
"I was surprised they kept the televisions on. You could see some people getting upset," Averill said.
Averill said the crew "was terrific and they did a great job keeping everyone calm." Other passengers said some ofthem were moved to the back of the plane - along with passengers' carry-on luggage - to get as much weight off the fouled front gear as possible.
When the plane made its final approach, passengers were ordered to put their heads between their legs and brace themselves in case of a hard landing.
"At the end it was the worst because you didn't know if it was going to work, if we would catch fire. It was very scary. Grown men were crying," said Diane Hamilton, 32, a television graphics specialist.
The first sign of trouble for Flight 292, bound for JFK Airport in New York, came shortly after it took off from Burbank's Bob Hope Airport at 3:17 p.m. The pilots discovered the plane's front wheels were turned sideways and stuck as they tried to retract the gear.
"After leaving Burbank, pilots reported a landing gear indication light on," said Bryan Baldwin, spokesman for Queens-based JetBlue, and they decided to head for Long Beach airport 30 miles south to attempt a landing.
But officials decided to bring the plane down at LAX, relying on the back wheels during most of the landing. LAX has longer runways than surrounding airports and more emergency equipment.
More than 100 firefighters and dozens of pieces of equipment lined the runway as the plane came down.
Thousands held their breath and watched from surrounding highways, bridges, buildings and parked vehicles, and the jetliner circled the airport before making its final approach.
Spectators cheered as the plane came down cotton-soft and dead center on the runway with its nose well up.
But there were gasps when the front landing gear finally touched the tarmac and friction set it ablaze. The flames, however, went out quickly.
With Michelle Caruso in Los Angeles
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