Nation : Jetliner in Trouble Lands Safely
A jetliner with 104 people aboard made an emergency landing at a small airport today after losing electrical power and ran off the short runway, burying its tires in the mud.
A passenger said that the Northwest Airlines DC-9 filled with smoke after the landing and that the captain had to take an ax to the exits to get them open. The pilot suffered cuts and bruises and one of the 99 passengers was hospitalized for shock, authorities said.
The plane, en route from Minneapolis to Phoenix, slid about 1,000 feet off the end of the runway at Monte Vista Municipal Airport, said Bob Johnson of the National Transportation Safety Board in Denver. He said the only apparent damage to the plane was flat tires.
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