Boeing 737 landing gear fails during touchdown at New York’s La Guardia airport, several hurt
24 Jul 2013
Ten people sustained injuries on Monday when the landing gear on a Southwest Airlines jet failed during touchdown at New York City's LaGuardia Airport, officials said.
Six passengers had to be rushed to the hospital where they received treatment for minor injuries, while the others were treated at the scene, according to Thomas Bosco, acting director of aviation for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which has oversight of the area airports. The six crew members were rushed to another hospital for observation.
The airport remained shut for over an hour after the Boeing 737 carrying 150 passengers and crew landed around 5.45 pm local time.
Emergency vehicles ringed the aircraft as emergency passenger exits were lowered, TV images showed.
"The aircraft landed on runway 4 and the landing gear collapsed, the nose wheel collapsed," Bosco told reporters.
He added, there was no advance warning of any possible problem before the landing.
The incident is being investigated by The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
According to a statement by Southwest all the passengers and crew had been evacuated from the plane.
According to NTSB spokeswoman Kelly Nantel the agency would gather more information on the incident from the FAA and the operator and assess the damage to the airplane, and thereafter make decisions regarding any further investigative activity from the NTSB.
Meanwhile, the NTSB started investigation into the Southwest Airlines Co accident yesterday at New York's LaGuardia airport.
Flight 345 was arriving from Nashville, Tennessee, when the gear collapsed causing the aircraft coming to rest with its front end flat on the ground.
''Residual delays'' at the airport persisted yesterday following the reopening of Runway 4-22, according to Steve Coleman, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey.
March Bertel, a spokesman for Boeing said the company had people on the ground in LaGuardia and was providing technical assistance to the NTSB.
The landing gear had been manufactured by Goodrich Corp, according to Colleen Carroll, a spokeswoman for United Technologies Corp, the company that acquired Goodrich in a $16.5 billion transaction announced in September 2011. In an e-mail she said, United Technologies was ''standing by'' to assist.
