United Landing Gear Failure Probe Underway

U.S. Investigators are trying to determine why part of a United Airlines jetliner's landing gear failed to deploy, forcing terrified passengers to crouch in their seats and brace for a crash before the pilot touched down safely despite scraping the jet's belly on the runway.

All 48 passengers and five crew members made it off the plane, sliding down emergency chutes once it came to a stop at Newark Liberty International Airport, one of the nation's busiest airports.

The trouble began Sunday morning as Flight 634, from Chicago to Newark, was descending on its runway approach.

Suddenly the plane started rising again and circling the airport, passengers said.

"So we knew something was wrong," said Jim Falk, of Middletown, N.J., who was sitting near the front of the plane.

The captain, who sounded composed, announced there was an issue with some of the landing gear on the Airbus 319, passengers said. Then he told them they'd be landing in three minutes - and they should brace themselves for a crash, Falk said.

When the aircraft landed, part of its belly struck the runway, United spokeswoman Robin Urbanski said, and part of its right wing was damaged.

Passengers, who cheered with relief, said the landing seemed controlled, and they praised the pilot, whose name wasn't immediately disclosed.

"If you didn't know they were missing a set of wheels, you wouldn't have thought there was something wrong," said passenger Paul Wasylyszyn, of Chicago.

Another passenger, Paul Lasiuk, also of Chicago, called the landing "unbelievably smooth."

"I've had a lot of worse landings at Newark before," he said.

The plane's right landing gear didn't extend, though its nose gear and left landing gear did, Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Arlene Salac said.

It wasn't immediately clear what caused the malfunction, said Urbanski, the spokeswoman for Chicago-based United, a subsidiary of UAL Corp.

After the crew reported the problem, the airport was closed for about 20 minutes, said Ron Marsico, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the region's major airports. Some arriving flights were delayed by about an hour.