Delta plane makes smooth emergency landing in Charlotte
A Delta plane made an emergency landing in Charlotte following a mechanical issue on Wednesday. The plane, which was flying in from Atlanta, successfully landed with its nose gear in the up position. No injuries were reported.
A total of 96 customers, two pilots and three flight attendants were on board the 717 during the incident. Images taken by Chris Skotarczak, a passenger on the plane, show the plane on the tarmac and the nose touching the ground. The emergency slides at the front of the plane inflated.
In a tweet, Charlotte International Airport said the runway was closed and passengers were returned to the terminal. The airport said it is working to remove the faulty plane from the tarmac.
In a statement to CBS News, a spokesperson for Delta said: "Nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and people. While this is a rare occurrence, Delta flight crews train extensively to safely manage through many scenarios and flight 1092 landed safely without reported injuries. We apologize to our customers for their experience."
Skotarczak told the Associated Press he noticed the nose wheel wasn't in the plane's shadow. If he hadn't seen that or had been told to brace for landing, he wouldn't have known anything was wrong.
"The pilot told us, 'We're going to land, we're going to hear a big thud and we're going to hear a lot of grinding,'" he said. "But it was almost smoother than a regular landing."
He said passengers were told to leave everything on the plane and exited via the slides, which he called "the coolest thing."