No one was injured in the emergency landing in which American Eagle Flight 4069 to Tulsa veered off the airport's longest runway and touched the grass. American Airlines says the plane came to a stop on the cargo taxiway.
"It started banking real hard as she was stopping. And then we were hitting the grass, and that was probably the last couple of seconds, that was probably the worst," passenger Jason Fountain said.
American Eagle Flight 4069 returned to O'Hare shortly after take-off at 8 a.m. due to mechanical issues. The plane was in the air for just a few minutes before the captain warned of trouble.
Pilot: American Eagle Flight 4069, 3-4-5... We're having landing gear issues and we'll need to sort it out real quick and come back.
An indicator light signaled there may be a problem with the aircraft's landing gear, so he informed air traffic controllers at O'Hare Airport and then turned the regional commuter jet around.
Air Traffic Controller: Eagle Flight 4069, turn left heading 2-7-Zero, Flight 4069.
Pilot: Left at 2-7-Zero, Flight 4069.
Air Traffic: Just verify your gear is stuck down.
Pilot: We don't know. We're having disagreements.
The 28 passengers and three crew members were bused to the terminal and put on another plane to continue on to Oklahoma.
"I was up front, I didn't see everybody," Fountain said. "I think everybody was fine."
Officials say the plane was taken to a hangar to be inspected. They say it was taken out of service on Wednesday for a similar reason.
"The aircraft was taken out of service yesterday because of a similar issue. It was thoroughly inspected by our maintenance team at ORD before being put back into service," Matt Miller of American Airlines said.
