Southwest Airlines Plane Blows Two Tires During Takeoff
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Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesUPDATE: Only hours after the aborted takeoff, a different Southwest plane — this one heading to Ontario, Calif., hit a bird while taking off. The plane turned around and landed back at the Sacramento Airport. Flight 1166 was canceled and the passengers were booked on other flights.
(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — A Southwest Airlines jet with 132 passengers on board was grounded Tuesday evening after two tires blew out upon takeoff from Sacramento airport. No one was injured.
Southwest Flight 2287 was bound for Seattle when its left main tires blew as the Boeing 737 jet raced down the runway for takeoff.
The five-member crew immediately aborted the takeoff, and frightened passengers knew something was wrong.
“I’ve been on a lot of planes…you don’t expect that to happen,” one passenger told ABC News. “The plane was literally shaking back and forth.”
Initial reports were that the tires caught fire, but both the airline and airport officials say that did not happen.
Southwest Airlines spokeswoman Katie McDonald told local ABC News affiliate News10 that emergency crews were called in to hose down the plane, but just as a precautionary measure.
“There was no fire, there were no injuries,” Sacramento International Airport spokeswoman Laurie Slothower also confirmed to News10.
The 132 passengers on board were evacuated using a portable stairway, not an emergency slide.
“The passengers were safely evacuated from the plane using the stairs as they would on a routine flight,” Slothower said.
Southwest said the passengers were able to board a later flight to Seattle that landed safely around 10 p.m. Tuesday night.
Officials are continuing to investigate the incident and have yet to determine a cause for the blowout.
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