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Saed Hindash / The Star-Ledger
A United Shuttle Air Express passenger plane with hydraulic problems made an emergency landing at Newark Liberty International Airport Monday evening, forcing the temporary closure of the airport. No injuries were reported.
The Star-Ledger's Tomas Dinges reports:
As a passenger plane with hydraulic problems was getting ready to make an emergency landing at Newark Liberty International Airport Monday evening, passengers thought they were going to die.
"We were saying our prayers because we just thought it was the end," said Steve Parowski, a passenger from Franklin Lakes. "I sent a text to my sons letting them know that I love them, and I hope everything works out."
Parowski was among the 71 people aboard the United Shuttle Air Express traveling from Atlanta to Newark — a flight that was uneventful until the commuter jet was preparing for landing and its front landing gear failed to deploy, authorities said. Parowski said as soon as he got off the plane and he knew he was fine, he called his sons on the phone and told them "I landed and I'm alive."
Read the the Star-Ledger's full story.
Leave a Comment:
Isn't it about time for everyone to start calling the pilot a HERO...for doing his job.
Dude, why so bitter? He is a hero ... they all are. Everytime they return us to the ground safely, I want to take the guy out for drinks. Sheesh, you're really out of touch with how some of us view flying, aren't you?
Really? Is that sarcasm @Mike? You really think he was just 'doing his job' in landing an aircraft without front gear down? That is not an everyday occurrence for a pilot and not something you can train for in a live setting. To bring the plane down and without serious injury is commendable and he is a hero, at least to those 71 passengers and crew who's lives he saved.
Mike, I sort of agree with you. That was part of his job, Mr. PocketClam notwithstanding. This can be trained for in simulators as can every other forseeable emergency, and people who program and build those simulators work overtime to create those one-in-a-million accident scenarios. This pilot remained cool and handled the job, exactly as we (I work for a university with an extremely large flight training program) would have expected him to. In fact, I'll bet his first comment was something along the lines of "Just part of the job." I wouldn't have it any other way.
I think some people just don't realize how anxious of flyers some of us are.
That @!$%# is stressful!!
There's a visceral reaction some of us have ... it doesn't feel natural. I realize to some it's just like riding in a car, but riding in a car is like running real fast. That's more natural, hell, I can do that. But I sure can't jump off the side of a building and glide down to safety.
In the immortal words of Westley Snipes from Passenger 57:
You may think its only "his job" but not all pilots can do it successfully.
Chad...I am a pilot and have got to tell you that landing with a nose gear failure is no heroic deal....Being a here is a totally different thing...A pilot that is a hero is a person that climbs out of the plane with a person over their shoulder and runs back into a burning plane to rescue another passenger...Do you think for one second that the pilot that landed the plane was thinking anything other than how HE wanted to walk away from this....
I don't know Mike, but I'd say that's one hell of an assumption on your part. Who knows what he was thinking.
Personally, yes!
I'd like to think you guys are always "thinking about others" besides yourselves when you're up there. You have the lives of hundreds of people in your hands and you can bet your ass that those people are definitely counting on you, too. If you don't feel that way ... man, I hope you're never a pilot on a plane I fly.
Chad, Sorry to inform you that pilots are human...self preservation kick in and you get to go along for the ride. All the other thoughts you have are over ridden by one...self preservation. Did a car ever pull out in front of you while you were driving down the road? Of course it has...did you think about the other people driving around you or saving your own ass? I am not saying you did it at the expense of others just you try to avoid harm to you first...If I am on a plane with another pilot I would hope he has something to live for also.
Peanutgallerytheater, Do what? landing is the same, the landing is even easier....once the plane stops on the runway the flight is over....no taxiing over to the gate...
If you really want the layman's version of the procedures for landing with the nose wheel up...It goes something like this
1 try manually lowering the gear\
2 Notify the crew and passengers of the situation and emergency proceedures
3 Fly around and burn off as much fuel as possible
4 turn off fuel pumps before touch down
5 do not use auto-brakes
6 Do not use engine reverse thrusters
7 touch down at slowest speed possible
8 once plane is stopped shut down all but emergency equipment
9 evacuate the passengers and crew
This is layman's version but all the checklist item are here....Where is the hero?
Because he worked the brake pedals himself....everything else is a normal landing and the copilot did all the checklist items...
People NEED to take all the drama out of this....
And you need to take the stick out of your ass.
I've elaborated twice already on how some of us feel about flying and how it elicits a visceral response in us. No one is adding "drama", we are merely commenting on a situation that could have ended badly (but thankfully didn't) and we are commending those involved who brought the situation to a safe conclusion.
Using your logic, anyone who wakes up and goes to work is merely "doing their job". The soldier in Iraq, the cop in New York, the firefighter in Chicago ... the pilot in Newark who stays calm and collected in the face of extenuating circumstances. Regardless of what happens to them, they are all "just doing their job".
Well, what is a hero to you? Someone wearing a cape?
Here's a hint bud, we're all just normal people "doing our jobs". There are no supermans in the bunch. Just your regular, ordinary, every day individuals who just happen to (once in a while) be put in an extra-ordinary situation and come out on top.
I get the fear factor, however, what I don't understand is why passengers thought they were going to die. This was simply a landing gear malfunction which, by the way, happens quite often. I don't ever recall hearing about fatalities under these types of conditions. Now, if the passengers were unaware of any of the specifics as to the nature of the emergency, then I could understand why there might be more of a panic situation.
Yes...I see airplanes everyday with their noses on the pavement (sarcasm).
I left a text message saying I was going to die so now I can call an ambulance chaser and get him to sue the airline for big bucks!!!
Watch and see what happens. Someone always sees dollar signs rather than be happy they are alive.
I was on a plane where an engine was shut off leaving us to fly in on one engine. It was NBD. Failed landing gear is a tad bit worse but not a completely unknown problem to occur occasionally. Pilots train for this stuff!
How long before the lawsuits from uninjured people who claim to have terrible mental scars start rolling in?
i have a mental scar from reading your post -- ooohhhh the painnnnn
Well, I suppose the same could be said for the military who die in war.. They knew when they signed up that they could die, they are just doing their job, no?
So this pax had his electronic device turned on during, let's say--the aircraft's "final approach?" I'm surprised he wasn't severely chastised by the flight attendant!
yep that was the cause right there -- turned on the electric device (which is always on anyway, just in standby) you are a good nazi and quite attractive in your brown SS uniform.
just fyi, the SS wore black
"brown shirts" were SA.
Yep they were all going to die due to nose wheel fail and the pilot fully expected, but they were saved by devine intervention, awesome. Now the poor little airplane didn't fare so well, big bump on the nose.
Go StevePa!
OOPS............ Since everyone is alive and well, it's a good landing.
Good job to the pilots. Had I been a passenger I would have been first in line to buy him/her a beer/wine.
Honestly...I think that the pilot should be responsible for talking to the passengers before the landing and making them aware that there is no reason to be worried...We are trained for this and we will be fine. If the pilot was any good people would only know the nose of the plane was on the ground by the angle of the cabin and I doubt they would have even felt the vibrations or heard the metal on the runway.
If you really want the layman's version of the procedures for landing with the nose wheel up...It goes something like this
1 try manually lowering the gear\
2 Notify the crew and passengers of the situation and emergency proceedures
3 Fly around and burn off as much fuel as possible
4 turn off fuel pumps before touch down
5 do not use auto-brakes
6 Do not use engine reverse thrusters
7 touch down at slowest speed possible
8 once plane is stopped shut down all but emergency equipment
9 evacuate the passengers and crew
This is layman's version but all the checklist item are here....Where is the hero?
Because he worked the brake pedals himself....everything else is a normal landing and the copilot did all the checklist items...
People NEED to take all the drama out of this....