Jet lands after tire blowout
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An American Airlines jetliner with 135 people on board landed safely at LAX on Tuesday after one of its tires blew on takeoff, authorities said.
The plane touched down without incident after circling over Los Angeles and dumping fuel near Santa Catalina Island.
The five-person crew of Flight 1586 bound for Toronto contacted controllers at 11:20 a.m. to report that the left inboard main gear tire had blown and that they needed to make an emergency landing, said John Hotard, an American Airlines spokesman, and Albert Rodriguez, a spokesman for Los Angeles International Airport.
Firefighters and airport emergency crews waited for the Boeing 737 on a runway.
Pilots told fire officials that they planned to circle the airport for 45 minutes to an hour before attempting the emergency landing, possibly to burn off fuel, Rodriguez said.
“That would diminish the possibility of having some sort of fire when it lands,” Rodriguez said, “taking out some of the danger.” Rodriguez said it was not clear how the tire blew.
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