Pilot trying emergency landing at Bush Intercontinental Airport Plane landed safely)

Houston Chronicle ^ | 05/02/2006

[oxcart]

Houston firefighters are standing by for the emergency landing of a of a 50-passenger jet at Bush Intercontinental Airport, an airport spokesman said today.

The Continental Express Embraer 145 took off between 4 and 4:20 p.m., said Rich Fernandez, a spokesman for the Houston Airport System.

``It blew a tire on takeoff and is circling the airport now,'' Fernandez said. ``I do not know what airline this is.''

The Embraer 145 is known as a ``regional jet,'' Fernandez said.

[MeanWestTexan]

I've actually been to their plant.

We nearly got a similiar (smaller) Ebraers for company planes, but went with some more traditional corporate jets.

[LA Woman3]

I found it here....

http://www.khou.com/

[pollyannaish]

Yes, but that was one beautiful landing. Couldn't have been better.

[The_Media_never_lie]

Last week I flew (I am a white knuckle flyer) in one and it is a very stable aircraft. It has a much smoother flight in rough weather than a Boeing 757 (much larger).

[se_ohio_young_conservative]

good ending !

[don-o]

Streaming the Khou-TV stream. Excellent covereage. Getting people on who actually know something. What a concept!

Thanks again, Tom for posting the link!

[pollyannaish]

I'm a sucker for a happy ending.

[se_ohio_young_conservative]

praying for a good ending !

[deport]

I hope they get the plane down safely. I was just on one of these out of IAH last week and scheduled to fly back in one one next week.

[SENTINEL]

My calibrated eye says it would be hard to pick a better aircraft to have to attempt this type of landing in. Note the very long distance between the right rear and nose gear, compared to the much shorter distance between the rears. This ratio will give the pilot a lot of steering authority even without the tires. The rims are likely good for one landing without coming apart.

I predict a nonevent in twenty minutes.

[TomGuy]

From video of flyby. You can see the difference in the tire sizes between the left and right.

[conservative in nyc]

Smaller jets don't have a fuel dump capability. Not even the B737.

I can't find anything Embraer-specific, but here is Boeing's chart showing which planes have fuel dump capability. As you said, no 737 has fuel dump capability; even the 757 can't dump fuel.

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

I was watching it on Fox26, they went back to there show changed to 11 but 26 back on flight.

[Fester Chugabrew]

. . . Khou-TV stream . . .

I agree. The coverage is excellent.

[TomGuy]

[humblegunner]

Swapping landing from runway 9 to runway 15.

More direct approach into the wind, aiding in slowing the plane.

[don-o]

Talking about the professionalism of the pilot in "solving the problem". My mind keeps going to the fear in the cabin.

Father in heaven, send comfort to all on that plane.

[Rte66]

We may see it on time-delay. KPRC, Ch. 2, Houston, earlier went to time-delay on shots from their news helicopter, so that the actual landing won't be seen from that angle (I don't know if they will be shooting it from a different vantage point, however). Just in case.

[TomGuy]

A couple of the streaming feeds went dead for a while, but they all seem to be working again.

[fhlh]

12K ft run way should be enough.