A commercial airliner made an emergency landing in Colorado this week after experiencing landing gear problems upon takeoff.
Southwest Airlines Flight 225, en route from Denver to Phoenix on Monday night, returned to Denver International Airport and made an emergency landing after experiencing problems with one of its tires during takeoff.
According to Flight Aware, an online site that tracks flight routes, the Boeing 737-800 took off at 6:31 p.m., was diverted and returned to Denver airport 41 minutes later.
No injuries were reported.
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Southwest Airlines tire blows out during takeoff from Denver
On Friday, the airline released the following statement to USA Today:
“Southwest Airlines Flight 225 returned safely to Denver on Monday, June 3, after suffering a tire failure during takeoff. Per standard safety procedure, the pilot declared an emergency prior to landing. The plane landed and took off from the runway without incident. Another aircraft continued the scheduled flight to Phoenix.”
In a statement, the airline thanked the crew for their “professionalism” and passengers for their “patience.”
“Wail”
Juliana Donadio, a Boulder resident who was on the flight to visit her mother, told local TV station KDVR-TV that she and other passengers knew the plane had a flat tire.
“When the flight attendants said we were making an emergency landing, we started to panic a little bit. Passengers were definitely crying and screaming and trying to comfort each other,” the outlet said. “They started bracing us for a fall with our heads between our knees and were instructing the exit row on how to open the doors and operate the slides.”
Donadio told the media that he was grateful to the pilot and crew for keeping calm during a terrifying scene.
Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter at USA TODAY. Contact her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her at X @nataliealund.
