Passengers on a U.S. Airways flight departing Philadelphia International Airport faced a scary situation late Thursday when a blown-out tire forced the plane to abort a takeoff in progress.
Flight 1702 was taking off for Fort Lauderdale at about 6:15 p.m., when a tire blew out on the runway. An airline representative told KYW-TV the plane's nose gear collapsed after it unsuccessfully tried to take off.
One of the passengers on the flight told WTXF the plane managed to get in the air two times before it crashed.
"The plane went a little bit in the air, and all of a sudden the front of the plane just went down. ... It went back up again and then crashed back down again, and everyone's holding on, screaming a little bit, no one really knows what's happening."
ABC snagged this video from another passenger. It shows people evacuating the plane. While some minor injuries were reported, all 149 passengers and the five crew members are fortunately safe and sound.
One of the passengers even found time to take a selfie with the downed plane in the background. I suppose that's one way to capture the moment. (Via Twitter / @han_horan)
The incident halted flights out of the airport for about an hour, and shut down one runway for another hour. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating.
