Plane makes emergency landing at Newark Airport

NEWARK, N.J. (WABC) -- An airplane at Newark Liberty International Airport made an emergency landing after its front landing gear apparently would not come down.

All of the passengers and crew aboard the Shuttle America flight evacuated using the emergency chutes.

This was Shuttle America flight 5124 from Atlanta to Newark. The Embraer 170 plane took off at 3:47 p.m.

The pilot declared an emergency because of a problem with the landing gear.

The pilot said an unsafe landing gear indicator turned on in the cockpit. He did a flyby of the air traffic control tower so FAA controllers could see what was wrong with the landing gear. They reported that the nose gear was not extended. The tail gear was fine.

Port Authority emergency crews foamed the runway, and the plane landed first on its back wheels, then on the belly of the plane.

The plane landed on Runway 22L at 6:30 p.m.

The nose gear collapsed on landing.

The Newark Fire Department is responded to the scene along with ambulances.

69 passengers including a baby and four crew members were all unharmed.

Runway 22L is closed for the night, but the rest of the airport reopened shortly after the landing.

The situation has created delays.

Shuttle America released a statement: "Shuttle America Flight 5124, operated on behalf of United Express, was involved in an incident at approximately 6:33 p.m. ET today in Newark, N.J.

On approach, the flight crew was not able to confirm that the nose gear had deployed correctly. After receiving confirmation from Newark Air Traffic Control that the nose gear was not down, the crew declared an emergency, prepared the cabin and safely landed. All customers and crew were safely bussed to the terminal.

The aircraft, an Embraer 170, carried 69 passengers and a crew of four."

The NTSB is not sending investigators on the ground, but will collect information, including data from the black box, on the incident.

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