This has not been a great month for commercial airlines — or anything that’s supposed to stay in the sky without crashing down amidst flames, really. The most recent mark against flying contraptions occurred yesterday evening at LaGuardia, when the front landing gear of a Boeing 737 collapsed and sent the plane skidding across the runway.
Passengers of the Southwest Airlines flight coming from Nashville, Tennessee, were forced to evacuate using the plane’s emergency chutes following the collapse. One passenger, Bill Roland, described the sensation as being similar to a car accident:
It sort of came down really fast, and kind of steep. And then it sort of banged, and then it banged again and then it sort of skidded to a stop. It all stopped quicker than you would have thought.
And while 10 people did walk away with (mostly minor) injuries, there were, thankfully, no fatalities this time. Still, the newly released video of the sparking, fiery skid seems like plenty enough to scare at least a few passengers away from flying again anytime soon. [NBC New York via Digg]