VIDEO: Plane makes emergency landing without nose gear, sparks fly

HOUSTON -- A U.S. Airways plane was forced to make an emergency landing without its nose gear at Bush Intercontinental Airport last night.

The Houston-bound flight was coming from Philadelphia and had 53 passengers, as well as four crew members, aboard. A spokesperson with the airport says the pilot noticed the landing gear wasn't coming down and decided to make an emergency landing.

"Fifty-six souls on board, 3,000 pounds of gas and we plan on evacuating on the runway ... emergency in progress," you hear in the ground control audio.

Raw video of the emergency landing:

While trying to assess the landing gear problem, the pilot kept the passengers updated on what was going on.

"The pilot announced that there was a problem with the landing gear and he was going to make a couple fly-bys of the control tower," said passenger Jeff Boulton. "They checked it out as he flew by and sure enough, the nose gear didn't come down, so he announced that we'd make an emergency landing and everyone would have to brace for impact. He touched down. It was smooth."

The plane landed safely, with passengers exiting the aircraft on slides. One passenger was injured, though, according to the airline, the injury is not believed to be serious. Firefighters tell Eyewitness News that passenger declined help when asked.

The National Transportation Safety Board is heading to the airport to begin an investigation.

Photo gallery of the emergency landing:

STATEMENT FROM AMERICAN AIRLINES

Keep checking back on this page to get real-time updates as this story unfolds. To get alerts for breaking news, download the ABC-13 news app for iPhone or Android. You can also get breaking news alerts sent to you by email.