Passenger describes hearing plane tires go flat during takeoff at Atlanta airport
A passenger was happy to finally make it to his destination after two tires went flat on his original jet.
Nicolas Escobar said he was happy to land safely in Tulsa on Wednesday afternoon after a delayed trip that involved changing planes at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
“So, we’re on the plane waiting for takeoff and we hear a big boom,” Escobar told Channel 2 Action News.
He then described a bad noise as the plane slowed and the pilot aborted takeoff.
“The pilot said he didn’t touch the brakes because he didn’t know the condition of the tire or whatever, so he just made it slow down,” Escobar said. “He had enough track to make it slow down.”
The 46 passengers and four crew members on ExpressJet flight No. 5508 were not injured, airlines spokeswoman Lisa Hellerstedt said in a statement. However, takeoff was aborted about 9:22 a.m.
The flight was operating as a Delta Connection at the time of the incident.
After getting off the plane, the passengers were bused back to the terminal and the plane was towed off the runway, Hellerstedt said.
Passengers were reassigned to another aircraft that landed in Oklahoma about 12:50 p.m.
An investigation is ongoing, Hellerstedt said.
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As business team lead, Kelly Yamanouchi edits and writes business stories. She graduated from Harvard and has a master's degree from Northwestern.
