LaGuardia fully reopened after Southwest jet collapse

New York City's LaGuardia Airport fully reopened Tuesday, a day after the collapse of a plane's front landing gear sent it skidding along the tarmac and temporarily closed the airport.

The Southwest Airlines plane accident closed down one runway while the other was left open overnight, according to Thomas Bosco, director of aviation for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

A Port Authority spokesman said a crane loaded the plane onto a flatbed Tuesday mornning to take it to a hangar, freeing the other runway.  

The accident caused headaches for travellers, who still face many flight delays and cancellations, according to the Port Authority's website.

Poor weather Tuesday slowed air traffic further, according to flightstats.com, making an average wait time at an hour and a half.

Ten passengers on Southwest Flight 345 from Nashville, Tenn., were treated at the scene, and six were taken to a hospital with minor injuries, said Bosco, director of aviation for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which oversees the area airports. Six crew members were taken to another hospital for observation.

Dallas-based Southwest said there were 150 people on the flight, while the Port Authority said 149 passengers were on board.

The accident left the Boeing 737-700 with its nose resting against the runway and forced the temporary closure of the airport, which mostly handles flights to and from other U.S. cities.  

The airline confirmed that emergency services had helped with the evacuation of the passengers and crew.

"Eyewitness reports indicate the aircraft's nose gear collapsed upon landing," Southwest said in a statement Monday.

Bosco said the nose gear of the plane collapsed when it landed at 5:40 p.m., and "the aircraft skidded down the runway on its nose and then veered off and came to rest in the grass area."

He said there was no advance warning of any possible problem before the landing.

Bosco said the collapse closed the airport for more than an hour. One runway was being used again last night, and a Port Authority spokesman said a crane loaded the plane onto a flatbed Tuesday to take it to a hangar, freeing the other runway for use later Tuesday morning.

Passengers described feeling a jarring jolt when the Boeing 737-300 came to the ground, with some seeing sparks fly as the plane scraped against the tarmac. Others said they hit their heads on the seats in front of them in the landing. 

The flight was delayed leaving Nashville. Passengers heard an announcement saying "something was wrong with a tire," said a passenger, Sgt. 1st Class Anniebell Hanna, 43, of the South Carolina National Guard.

At LaGuardia, "when we got ready to land, we nosedived," she said. She and some family members were coming to New York for a visit.

"I hit my head against the seat in front of me," she said. "I hit hard."

The nose of the plane was "completely down on the ground," said Richard Strauss, who was on a nearby plane waiting to take off. "It's something that I've never seen before. It's bizarre."

Emergency crews were seen spraying foam toward the front end of the plane on the tarmac.

A rear stairwell or slide could be seen extending from the Southwest flight, said Strauss, who owns a Washington public relations firm. His plane, which was about 100 yards from the Southwest flight, wasn't allowed to taxi back to the gate, he said.

The Port Authority said the passengers exited the plane by using chutes. Hanna said she was among the first to get off the plane, and could smell something burning when she got down to the tarmac. The passengers were put on a bus and taken to the terminal.

Bobby Abtahi, an attorney trying to catch a flight to Dallas, was watching from the terminal and heard a crowd reacting.

"I heard some people gasp and scream. I looked over and saw sparks flying at the front of the plane," he said.

The landing gear collapse came 16 days after Asiana Flight 214 crash-landed at San Francisco's airport, killing two Chinese teenagers; a third was killed when a fire truck ran over her while responding to the crash, authorities said. Dozens of people were injured in that landing, which involved a Boeing 777 flying from South Korea.

Longtime pilot Patrick Smith, author of "Cockpit Confidential: Everything You Need to Know About Air Travel. Questions, Answers, and Reflections" and AskthePilot.com, said landing gear issues are not high on the list of worries for pilots.

"From a pilot's perspective, this is nearly a non-issue," he said. "They make for good television, but this is far down the list of nightmares for pilots."

The FAA is investigating, as is the National Transportation Safety Board. Southwest Airlines said yesterday it had notified the NTSB.

Al Jazeera and wire services