That situation was the ideal local news story (from the station perspective): plenty of time to build the drama, lives in peril, lots of time to get cameras in place and a dramatic and happy ending!

Did you have to ride the short bus back to the terminal?

http://www.nbc4.tv/travelgetaways/5006256/detail.html

Some great info in this article. First off, this was Jet Blue, so of course every seat had a screen with DirectTV...so the passengers were able to watch the news coverage while they were circling the airport! They turned the TVs off before the actual landing, but man that must have been surreal.

They've got video from a guy with a camcorder onboard who first recorded a message to his family, and then recorded the reaction on landing.

Then there's this:
Or? How about and?! Geesh.

The "and" is reserved for the fiery crashes

[/sarcasm]

I saw fire. Sure, it was "expected" fire, but as far as I'm concern, once a plane flight gets to the point that they expect fire in the near future, assuming I do survive it, I would expect my money back AND a new ticket.

I only saw lots of sparks.

No, that was flame. It was the hydraulic fluid from the lines on the landing gear arm catching fire due to the sparks. No real threat, and exactly what the experts said would happen. But flame none the less!

I didn't pay that much attention to whether they were sparks or flames, I was more enthralled with the fact that it was landing safely.

Dont ya just hate that? Hard drop and a short stop. I Hate those ones on the short runway. But then maybe it was because my pilot looked 12.

Actually that doesn't bother me as much as it seems to put me in some sort of alternative universe LAX where things aren't quite right and people think me loopy - so far so good this time though...