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US Airways Flight 1702: What passengers say happened

US Airways Flight 1702: The pilot of US Airways Flight 1702 aborted the flight during takeoff. A tire blow out first or smoking engine? Some passengers yelled 'fire' and a quick evacuation of Flight 1702 followed.

  • By Staff Associated Press

| Fort Laudersale, Fla.

Some passengers aboard a plane whose nose gear collapsed on a Philadelphia runway finally made it to South Florida early Friday.

Officials say US Airways Flight 1702 was heading for Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport shortly after 6 p.m. Thursday when a tire on the front landing gear blew out, forcing the pilot to abort takeoff at Philadelphia International Airport.

The FAA website reported that the take off was aborted due to smoke in the No. 1 engine and then the nose gear collapsed. But that initial post was removed.

The Airbus A320 jet was carrying 149 passengers and five crew members.

Some of those passengers boarded a new flight that landed in Florida early Friday, and several spoke with local media outlets.

"We started skidding down the runway, people were screaming and crying. It was quite harrowing," Dennis Fee said.

Other passengers said the emergency was over quickly. The plane momentarily got off the ground before slamming back down, and people smelled smoke before getting out into the cold. Many ran away from the plane because they feared it would explode.

"All the sudden we slammed back into the runway and bounced, and we go up a little more and we slam again. It happened very quickly, so we didn't know exactly what was going on," Larry Grant said. "Almost instantaneously people from the back were screaming 'fire, fire,' and so passengers did what they were supposed to do and they pulled the emergency doors over the window, and we started to proceed and the ramps inflated, and we got everybody out. We slid down the ramps, very fast."

A group of Belgian firefighters heading to training in Fort Lauderdale suddenly found themselves assisting with the evacuation.

"We are used to emergencies, but not as victims," said Peter Fredricks.

An airport spokeswoman in Philadelphia said two passengers requested medical attention, but no serious injuries were reported.

The crippled plane was removed from the runway in Philadelphia and taken to a hanger to await examination by investigators. All runways there were reopened as of midmorning Friday.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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