Crash-landing at City Airport

Passengers have described the terrifying moment a jet crash-landed at a London airport. Smoke filled the cabin as British Airways flight 8456 landed at London City Airport on Friday night, its front wheel coming off as the plane hit the ground in a so-called 'hard landing'. It was the second such incident at the airport in just over a week - on February 5 its runway was closed because of a bent nose wheel on another aircraft of the same type. One passenger, Ray Hamblin, described how those on board started to panic as the plane filled with smoke. Mr Hamblin said: "People were pretty calm at first but when the plane started to fill up with smoke, people were not moving fast enough and they got pretty fractious." The 67 passengers and four crew on the flight from Amsterdam were evacuated via emergency slides onto the runway. Mr Hamblin said he and at least one other passenger suffered "cuts and scrapes" exiting the aircraft. Another passenger, Justin Fletcher, described a "loud bang" as the plane landed, adding that "the stewards and stewardesses were quick to evacuate everyone off". He also said there had been "a few scrapes and cuts due to hitting the asphalt". Paramedics treated four people for minor injuries. One was taken to hospital. The airport was closed until Saturday morning and 11 flights diverted to nearby airports while the situation was brought under control. Fire crews and air accident investigators were called to the scene.

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ITN | February 14, 2009

Tags:. .hamblin. .stewardesses. .fractious. .asphalt. .fletcher