6 months ago
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Passengers arriving on JetBlue at New York's JFK Airport had an air-raising experience when the nose of their plane tilted into the air as they were getting off.
Hundreds of people are thought to have boarded the B6662 flight from Bridgetown, Barbados, which touched down just after 8.30pm on Monday night.
Those on board were invited to disembark from the front, but poor weight distribution on the Airbus A321-231 led to the back of the plane sinking towards the tarmac, and the front wheels lifting a full 12 feet off the ground.
'Once at the gate, due to a shift in weight and balance during deplaning, the tail of the aircraft tipped backward causing the nose of the aircraft to lift up and eventually return back down,' a spokesman for the airline said.
'Safety is JetBlue's first priority; we are reviewing this incident, and the aircraft has been taken out of service for inspection.'
The JetBlue Airbus 321 appeared about to take off as its nose tilted into the air during disembarkation at New York's JFK Airport on Monday night
The four-and-a-half hour flight from Bridgetown in Barbados had passed uneventfully until the time came to leave the airplane at JFK
No injuries were reported aboard the eight-year-old plane which had just finished its four-and-a-half hour flight from the Caribbean.
Industry experts said that such incidents are not uncommon when aircraft have been badly loaded.
Two years ago a United Airlines Boeing 737 carrying some of the University of Southern California football team tilted backwards while being unloaded at Lewiston, Idaho, leaving its front wheels off the ground and its nose pointing in the air.
JetBlue currently has 92 Airbus A321-231s in its fleet, 85 of which are in active service and seven are currently parked in storage, according to aviationsourcenews.com
'This means ultimately that the aircraft will be grounded and that a replacement jet will be needed to operate the next flight down to Montego Bay,' the website reported.
Plane spotters were quick to speculate on what had caused the uneven weight distribution with some joking it might be a cargo of gold or even an elephant.
Footage filmed by shocked passengers showed the aircraft's nose pointing into the air and its front wheels a full 12 feet off the ground
Poor weight distribution was also blamed for a similar incident on a United Airlines Boeing 737 which tilted up while carrying some of the University of Southern California football team two years ago in Lewiston, Idaho
Plane spotters were quick to suggest on X, formerly Twitter, what might have caused the terrifying airlift on the flight from Barbados to New York's JFK Airport
'Sat on the tarmac for full two hours after touchdown in a klm 747 combi once, as they had an actual elephant in the back and we needed to stay seated (playing counterweights) until they unloaded Dumbo,' wrote Jack D Ruppelaar on X, formerly Twitter.
'It's a Jet Boo Boo,' suggested Michael@cinetic.
'That's eager to take off,' added Daniel Wells.
Were YOU on the stricken flight? Email [email protected].
