People were definitely crying and screaming’: Woman recounts harrowing emergency landing after tire failure

A passenger on a Southwest Airlines flight that had to turn back after a tire failure shortly after takeoff recounted the panic among travelers as they prepared for an emergency landing.

“When the flight attendants announced we were going to have an emergency landing, panic set in. People were crying, screaming, and trying to console each other,” Julianna Donadio told Fox 31.

Southwest Airlines flight 225 had departed Denver International Airport around 6:30 p.m. on June 3, heading to Phoenix, Arizona, when the tire "failed," according to the airline.

Donadio, a Boulder resident traveling to visit her mother, described hearing a loud sound from the tire. “We knew we blew a tire, but we didn’t know the status of the landing gear,” she said. “They instructed us to prepare for crash position, with heads between our knees, and briefed the emergency exit passengers on how to operate the doors and slides.”

Despite the chaos, the flight crew remained calm, guiding passengers through the emergency procedures. “When we landed, everyone cheered and clapped,” Donadio said.

A United Airlines flight lost a tire in March and landed on a Toyota Corolla, destroying it (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved

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Southwest confirmed in a statement that the plane “landed without incident.” They explained, “Southwest Flight 225 returned safely to Denver on Monday, June 3, after a tire failed during takeoff. Following standard safety procedures, the pilots declared an emergency before landing. The flight landed without incident and taxied off the runway. A separate aircraft completed the scheduled flight to Phoenix.”

A similar, but more extreme, incident occurred in March when a United Airlines flight from San Francisco to Japan lost a tire. The wheel fell onto a Toyota Corolla, destroying the car, and the plane had to make an emergency landing at Los Angeles International Airport, where fire engines were on standby.

Both aircraft involved were manufactured by Boeing, a company that has faced intense scrutiny after an Alaska Airlines flight in January lost a door plug at 16,000 feet.

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