A JetBlue plane tilted backwards after landing at John F Kennedy International Airport in New York City (Pictures: Twitter/Citizen)
Passengers on an plane had a major scare as the aircraft’s nose tilted upward as its tail dropped backward as they disembarked.
JetBlue flight 662 had just touched down at John F Kennedy International Airport in New York City from Bridgetown, Barbados, on Sunday night when the stationary airplane suddenly shifted.
Video shot from the tarmac shows the plane with its nose pointed up toward the air and its body at a diagonal instead of parallel to the ground. A person in the clip, which shows several angles, is heard saying, ‘So the plane is at the gate and there’s a tilt to it.’
JetBlue quickly offered an explanation for the bizarre incident that occurred around 8pm.
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The bizarre incident happened on Sunday night (Picture: Twitter/Citizen)
‘Once at the gate, due to a shift in weight and balance during deplaning, the tail of the aircraft tipped backward causing the nose of the aircraft to lift up and eventually return back down,’ JetBlue spokesman Derek Dombrowski told the New York Post on Monday.
‘No injuries were reported. Safety is JetBlue’s first priority; we are reviewing this incident, and the aircraft has been taken out of service for inspection.’
Passengers deplaned from the front, but the weight distribution caused the front wheels of the Airbus A321-231 to lift 12 feet off of the ground, the Daily Mail reported.
The eight-year-old plane is one of 92 of the same model in JetBlue’s fleet. The majority, 85, are in service while seven are parked, according to AviationSource News.
The JetBlue airplane arrived from Bridgetown, Barbados, on Sunday night (Picture: Citizen)
‘This means ultimately that the aircraft will be grounded and that a replacement jet will be needed to operate the next flight down to Montego Bay,’ states the website.
Pilots calculate the balance and weight of their aircrafts before flying in order to determine the center of gravity that is important for performance. Passengers are often asked to change seats to ensure proper weight distribution.
It is not the first time that an airplane has tilted due to poor balance.
In September 2021, a United Airlines plane carrying some members of the University of Southern California football team tilted backward as passengers disembarked. Its nose tilted toward the air due to the weight shift during the deplaning process in Lewiston, Idaho, United representatives said at the time. No one was injured.
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A JetBlue aircraft tilted backward on the tarmac as passengers deplaned.