Video Shows Aftermath After Plane Makes Emergency Landing With No Front Wheel

Posted on February 28, 2012 at 8:09am by Jonathon M. Seidl
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NEWARK, N.J. (The Blaze/AP) — Newark Liberty Airport has reopened after a United Express flight from Atlanta made an emergency landing, forcing an hour-long shutdown.

Authorities say Flight 5124 landed around 6:20 p.m. Monday, shortly after the pilot was approaching the airport to land as scheduled and noticed a landing gear problem — the front wheel of the plane would not fully come down.

“That nose gear is not down,” the air traffic controller says on audio recordings. “You got no nose gear… Door might have opened. Saw a little bump.”

“Even if you see that nose wheel down, we‘re not going to know it’s completely down and locked,” the pilot adds. “I would like to go ahead and declare an emergency at this time. And request fire rescue when we get there, assuming we stop on the runway.”

There were no reports of injuries among the 71 people aboard.

Newark firefighters were called to the scene, but found no smoke or fire aboard the plane.

A spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey says the airport was closed shortly after the landing. Two of the airport’s three runways reopened about an hour later.

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Comments (12)

windchaser777
Posted on February 28, 2012 at 5:56pm
My 88 year old husband was a flight engineer on a B24 during WW11 and he has told me about him cranking the nose gear down .
TXWHELLS when I read your pucker factor 21. I had to called my friend down the street. I had to ask her when she was 17 and her brother 20 was returning from the islands back in the 70′s the landing gear did not come down as the approached Miami. The foam was new at that time and it was used. I had to ask her if she had the 21 pucker factor out of a ten. Thanks for entertaining to old ladies today.
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mooskie
Posted on February 28, 2012 at 12:27pm
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Odin64
Posted on February 28, 2012 at 10:31am
Awe man as a airframe mech. I’m screaming Depot up! The front fuselage is toast the wing spar most likely has stress fractures multiple stringers and frame stations through the airframe will most likely be damaged as well, not to mention the destruction to the nose gear damage to the ray-dome, LOX systems and electronics, certainly a Class A mishap. I say it will spend a minimum of 6 months at rework and a well over ten million dollars. Sucks to be them but lucky no one was hurt and the plane wasn’t totaled. Imagine seeing this on car-fax…
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- right-wing-waco
  Posted on February 28, 2012 at 12:45pm
  I have been told by 2 pilot friends of mine, (one commercial), that although it is not good for the plane, it really is not a big deal. The commercial pilot said if he was on a fight as a passenger and was told the front wheel would not come down, he would probably go back to his magazine.
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txwheels
Posted on February 28, 2012 at 9:34am
I’d say that landing was a pucker factor 21 on a scale of 10. Captain did a dang fine job.
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PoliticallyRightUs.Com
Posted on February 28, 2012 at 9:34am
I am not sure how many people are aware of this but… Most airlines have been sub-contracting maintenance to South America (without English translated Manuels, I might add).
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kim
Posted on February 28, 2012 at 8:54am
as long as on one was hurt or killed and the people need to check these things more better then they do
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- BOMUSTGO
  Posted on February 28, 2012 at 9:01am
  You would think they would have a back-up system for a hydraulic failure.The old B-17 bomber had an emergency hand crack to get the gear down in the event of a hydraulic failure.
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- RepubliCorp
  Posted on February 28, 2012 at 9:34am
  inside a B-17 was nothing more than skeleton…… you could fix the wiring too. Wouldn’t work on a finished plane
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- JETJOCKEY737
  Posted on February 28, 2012 at 3:35pm
  @ BOMUSTGO the hydraulic systems on modern aircraft typically run at 3000 psi that’s a lot of pumping. I suspect a failure of the mechanical uplock there is a manual uplock release and the pilots emergency checklist would have instructed them to pull it, failing that there is not much else in our bag of tricks, at least tricks that wouldn’t cause everyone in the back to lose their lunch.
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BOMUSTGO
Posted on February 28, 2012 at 8:35am
This seems to be happening a lot in the last few years.”Stop buying Chinese landing gear!!!”
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Gonzo
Posted on February 28, 2012 at 8:18am
Nice job captain! I wish there was video of the landing.
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