QUEENS, NEW YORK – Passengers on a JetBlue flight experienced great horror when their plane hit the ground nose-first while disembarking in New York.
The airline says a shift in weight and balance while exiting the plane at JFK Airport caused the front of the plane to rise.
A video posted on the Citizen app shows the plane’s nose stuck in the air at an angle while a ground crew assesses the situation.
Flight 662 landed at Terminal 5 from Bridgetown, Barbados at around 8:30 p.m. on Sunday.
No injuries were reported.
“Safety is JetBlue’s top priority; “We are investigating this incident and the aircraft has been removed from service for inspection,” Jetblue said in a statement.
Ed Libassi, CEO of A&P Aircraft Maintenance, Inc., explained what he believes may have caused the plane to tip over.
“The situation that JetBlue had yesterday is something I have seen in my 51-year career – there was too much baggage left in the air hold,” Libassi said. “Maybe all the people had already gotten out, or maybe everything at the front was being quickly removed – from luggage to fuel in the wings as they flew from Barbados.”
Libassi said that on arriving flights, passengers would typically first hear the cargo doors opening before the passenger boarding bridge moves to the plane.
“But maybe they had problems with the luggage door and couldn’t open it quickly enough,” he said.
Despite the shock, Libassi said, “They handled the situation well” and they were lucky to be able to take the weight off the tail and the plane crashed again.