Story updated on 10 February to note injuries to one passenger.
A US Airways Embraer 190 made an emergency landing with its nose gear retracted at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental airport on the evening of 9 February, US Airways’ parent company American Airlines confirms.
Photographs posted by passengers on Twitter show the aircraft, registration N953UW, resting on its nose on the tarmac with its main landing gear extended.
The US Federal Aviation Administration, which has assumed the investigation of the incident, tells Flightglobal one passenger suffered an "injured left leg and ankle while deplaning".
American says no other serious injuries were reported from the 52 passengers and four crew members on board. The aircraft had operated flight 1825 from Philadelphia.
“The passengers did exit the aircraft via the aircraft slides,” American says. “Our primary concern at this time is for the passengers and crew. We are cooperating with the response effort.”
The aircraft landed on runway 09/27, but has since been moved, according to airport officials.
The incident forced the closure of the runway. The runway remains closed the morning of 10 February as crews are “doing some cleanup”, but will likely open later in the day, adds the airport.
American says the aircraft’s nose gear did not deploy and that the pilots circled before landing to confirm that the gear was not down.
The aircraft was manufactured in 2007 and had accumulated 15,392 hours and 12,790 cycles as of September 2014, according to the Ascend Fleets database.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
