Bumpy landing at TIA rattles passengers

TAMPA - It wasn’t quite the way Robert Raum and his daughter Jennifer were hoping to welcome their friend to Tampa.

“’Holy cow!’ I said I couldn’t believe it. I said ‘Jen look’,” offered Traum.

U.S. Airways Flight 1241 flying from Philadelphia to Tampa landed with a bang, drawing fire trucks and emergency vehicles as it sat on the west runway, shutting it down for hours.

“We have two active runways here but keep in mind the West runway, probably 90 to 95 percent of our jet traffic uses that runway because that puts the noise out over the bay,” said Brenda Geoghagan of Tampa International Airport.

Airport officials say the front tire under the nose of the plane blew out as the aircraft was landing, creating a potentially dangerous situation for those on board.

Workers brought out staircases to help passengers get off the plane and onto buses.

Officials say thankfully the plane was able to land without any passenger injuries, but that certainly doesn’t mean passengers weren’t shaken by the incident.

“When we were coming down I was sitting next to the window, it was terrifying because I was wondering if we were going to go straight in and really crash,” said Linda Bolmer, a passenger on the flight.

Passenger Keith Gibson and his family are wrapping up their vacation to the US from England, though his wife says she’d now rather take a boat back.

“We’re just happy that we actually did land and we ended up in one piece basically,” said Gibson.

Fresh from filming an Oxyclean commercial in Philadelphia, ‘Pitch Man’ Billy Mays was also thankful to be on the ground and back home in the Bay Area.

“All of a sudden as we hit you know it was just the hardest hit, all the things from the ceiling started dropping. It hit me on the head, but I got a hard head,” said Mays.

As others finished gathering their luggage, Jennifer Raum was reunited with her friend.

“(We’re just) happy that everyone is all right,” added Raum.

Glad the group was able to load their luggage, and drive away unharmed.

Airport officials say the FAA released the aircraft though the runway remained closed for hours.

Officials also say U.S. Airways is calling this an isolated incident.