Only one passenger asked for medical attention after a US Airways A320’s nose gear collapsed on what sounds like a rocky takeoff attempt from Philadelphia Airport on Thursday. Some of the 149 passengers, who hoped to fly to Fort Lauderdale on the early evening flight, told local media the aircraft took off and then settled back on the runway nose first, blowing a tire. Passenger accounts are often inaccurate but there were several who told the same story.”The flight kind of shot up and then bounced down,” 33-year-old passenger Christopher Teaney told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “Bounced real hard. Shot up again, and then nose-dived.”
The five crew members conducted an emergency evacuation using the slides and the airport was closed for the emergency response, which passengers also criticized. Teaney said the passengers waited more than a half hour in cold weather for buses to return them to the terminal. However, the airline said they were all booked on later flights and got to the warm weather of Fort Lauderdale. The airport was mostly reopened within a few hours with only one of four runways unavailable.
