Yet another American Airlines jet had to make an emergency landing this week due to another mechanical problem. This time a flight had to return to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport because of a problem with the landing gear.
Passengers on board Flight 1862 from Dallas, Texas to St. Louis, Missouri had quite the scary experience when they were told to brace for a crash landing just 10 minutes into their flight on Tuesday, according to Good Morning America.
An indicator in the cockpit warned pilots about a problem with the landing gear shortly after take-off. The indicator said the landing-gear jammed.
Despite the warning, the flight turned around and landed at the airport with no problems. The landing gear worked fine.
The 121 passengers on board were transferred to another plane to St. Louis. They took off three hours after their initial departure time.
"When they said assume the position, it was scary," passenger Elaine Krieger told Good Morning America.
American Airlines had had several issues lately after announcing that they were bankrupt in November. Labor issues have led to problems with maintenance crews and pilots. Recently, hundreds of flights were delayed and canceled because of maintenance problems and pilots calling out sick in high numbers.
Some passengers wondered if the incident was related to these issues and thought it may have been staged.
"Some people are cheering as we landed, and the rest of us are thinking, 'Is this a scenario they created, or was it real?'" passenger Jeff Estes told GMA. "Are they really heroes, or are they guys just creating a job action?"
This was just one of many issues that caused flights to makes emergency landings this week. At least three flights were forced to land because passenger seats became loose on the planes and began to move around.
Another flight from Chicago to London made an emergency landing in Ireland after a passenger smelled smoke. Mechanics found that an overhead fan had overheated.
In September, an American Airlines flight was delayed for four hours because two flight attendants couldn't work together.
After these issues, American Airlines announced that they will continue contract negotiations with the pilot union on Wednesday.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
