Jet lands at Logan after sparks fly
None are injured; cause is uncertain
Air traffic controllers at Logan International Airport spotted sparks coming from underneath a Midwest Airlines jet on takeoff last night, prompting the pilot to return to Boston and make an emergency landing, officials said.
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No injuries were reported.
As the Milwaukee-bound flight landed, golden sparks could be seen shooting from the wheels, under the right wing.
Jim Peters, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration, said the pilot of Midwest Flight 210 had decided to return to Boston after learning of the sparks on takeoff and after indicators in the cockpit showed a possible problem with the right main landing gear. Peters said the crew was also concerned about a possible problem with the landing-gear door. Peters said the pilot flew the plane north, and circled east of Gloucester.
It burned fuel until the aircraft was at a safe weight for landing. Some Boeing 717 aircraft do not have the capability to dump fuel in an emergency.
The crew tested the gear before landing and said it seemed to be functioning, Peters said. ''They believed that the gear was down and locked," Peters said.
The pilot did not declare an emergency, and waved off fire and rescue equipment, but airport officials put the equipment into place near the runway, he said.
The landing was shown live on CNN and MSNBC.
Passengers coming off the plane at Logan last night appeared to be relieved, tired, and a little puzzled at the fuss
The landing seemed reminiscent of a Sept. 21 JetBlue flight, on which the front landing gear became stuck at a 90-degree angle after it took off from Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, Calif.
That flight landed safely at Los Angeles International Airport after circling in the air for about three hours.
Sparks shot out from the aircraft's front wheels as it landed. None of the 140 passengers or six crew members were hurt.
''For that hour and a half we were burning fuel, thoughts were going through my head," said Anthony Sendik, 19, of Milwaukee, who was heading home for the holidays after finishing the semester at Boston College.
The aircraft left Boston for Milwaukee at 7:41 p.m., 26 minutes behind schedule.
About a half hour later, Sendik said, the captain said over the intercom that the landing gear warning signal had come on.
A few minutes later, he said they were going to turn around because they would rather deal with the problem in Boston, he said.
As they were flying around burning off fuel, the pilot said the crew was going to try to put the landing gear down in midair, to see if it was working.
''He said everything seemed all right, which didn't convey a lot of confidence," he said. Sendik said the landing seemed to have taken forever. ''We came in slower than I've ever seen," he said. ''It wasn't [like] turbulence, it felt more out of control."
Passengers couldn't see the sparks, but Sendik said his parents later called him on his cell phone to report that they had seen them on television.
Alison and Laura Hasslinger, who were picked up by their mother, Susan Hazel, did not seem very affected by the ordeal. Laura Hassingler, a 19-year-old Bridgewater State College freshman, said she was more ''aggravated that we landed back here."
''I wasn't really nervous," said Alison, 15, a sophomore at Mansfield High School. ''The pilot kept telling us everything would be fine."
Peters said Midwest's maintenance crews would take the landing gear apart and diagnose the problem.
FAA safety inspectors were monitoring the investigation. A Boeing spokeswoman said the company will look into the incident as well.
One aircraft specialist, a former National Transportation Safety Board member and a St. Louis University professor, John Goglia, said he believed that a brake problem could have caused the sparks.
A spokeswoman for Midwest said that the airline would put the passengers up for the night at a Hilton hotel and fly them out in the morning.
Passenger Pam Kainz of Wayland said she had been close to panic as the drama unfolded.
The time the flight crew spent burning off fuel while circling off the coast was excruciating to her, Kainz said.
''I guess everyone else was calm," said the 38-year-old, who was traveling with her two small children. The family was on their way to Wisconsin for the holidays.
She said she wasn't sure whether her family would take Midwest up on its offer of rescheduled flights for today.
''We'll see how everyone's feeling tomorrow morning," she said.
The Milwaukee Jounal Sentinel reported today that Midwest's fleet of 717s is essentially new. Carol Skornicka, senior vice president of corporate affairs at Midwest, which is based in Milwaukee,was quoted as saying that the airline had ordered 25 of the twinjets and had begun receiving them in 2003.
This week, the airline will receive the 23d of the 25 it had ordered, the newspaper reported.
Last night at Milwaukee's Mitchell International Airport, a crowd gathered around a big-screen television in the main terminal, watching news reports of the troubled aircraft, the newspaper reported.
Family members and friends of the plane's passengers became increasingly agitated after realizing their plane was causing the commotion.
When the aircraft touched down safely, an audible sigh of relief was heard, followed by families scrambling to reach passengers by cellular phone.
Gil Snyder had been waiting for his daughter, Sophia, who had planned to arrive from Harvard University, when he went to see what the commotion was about near the television set.
''I was just in shock," Snyder was quoted as saying. He said the ordeal would make for an extra-special holiday.
''I'll be happy to see her for sure," Snyder said. ''She's getting a big hug," Snyder said.
Matthew Brelis of the Globe staff and Globe correspondents Emma Stickgold and Benjamin Freed contributed to this report. 
© Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.
