TAMPA, Fla. — A Southwest Airlines flight from Tampa to Los Angeles had to turn around Thursday night and make an emergency landing.
It circled over the gulf for about an hour, a passenger on board told 10News.
"The only thing that concerned me was that they were turning off the ability to text your family, so that kind of threw me for a little bit of a loop," passenger Matt Keelan said. "That's where it kind of got a little serious and I was concerned about what was going to happen."
The airline confirmed Flight 2222 landed safely at 8:05 p.m.
Tampa International Airport officials said there were 137 people on board when the plane was recalled because of a potential problem with the nose gear.
According to air traffic control audio, the pilot reported a possible blowout of a front tire upon takeoff. Crews did clean up debris from the runway. However, after the emergency landing, crews on the ground told the pilot his tires looked fine.
It's unclear what the debris was.
The plane will be stored at TIA for the time being.
Southwest is working to reschedule the passengers, who were bused from the runway to the terminal, airport officials said.
A video of the landing taken by Keelan shows passengers were applauding after the plane touched down.
"Relief for sure," Keelan described the moment it landed. "The pilots did a great job landing and I'm thankful I'm on the ground now."
The flight was a 737, but it is not one of the 737 Max 8 planes that have been in the news lately because of safety issues.
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