BURBANK, Calif. -- A Southwest Airlines jet landing with 142 people aboard barreled off the end of a runway, slammed through a retaining wall and came to a halt in the middle of a street, narrowly missing a gas station.
Six people on the plane suffered minor injuries in Sunday night's accident at Burbank Airport. The plane also struck a car on the street. The car's hood was pinned under the aircraft, but the driver and her 4-year-old daughter were not injured, the fire department said.There was no fire although officials said the plane leaked about 10 gallons of fuel.
Passenger Kevin McCoy told KNBC-TV that the plane, Flight 1455, had left Las Vegas about two hours behind schedule.
"They told us it might be a rough landing, but none of us were expecting this," McCoy said. "We are very lucky. All of us."
There was no explanation from airline officials why the passengers were given the warning.
The Boeing 737-300 came to rest with its nose on the ground. Louis Diaz, a spokesman with the Federal Aviation Administration, said the front landing gear collapsed but the cause of the accident had not been determined.
The weather had been stormy in the area throughout the day Sunday.
At a news conference in Dallas, Southwest CEO Herb Kelleher said the plane had its last maintenance check on Thursday and there were no visible problems.
"There was no indication that the runway was wet, and they have no indications of any problems at all with the plane," Kelleher said.
Flight 1455 from Las Vegas to Burbank landed just after 6 p.m. and slid off the tarmac, ripped a gaping hole through a perimeter fence and stopped on Hollywood Way less than 100 feet from a Chevron station.
The wings were badly damaged, and parts of the fence were embedded in the plane's engines, said Fire Marshal Darryl Forbes.
Six men aboard the plane, including the pilot, were treated at Providence-St. Joseph's Medical Center and released.
McCoy said the plane made a short approach toward the runway and seemed to be going fast.
"The angle that we approached the runway was much steeper than I was used to," said McCoy, who was sitting in the second row and traveling with his wife.
"It was just barreling in, and it ran into what appeared to be a building," said Larry Hopper of Manteca, who was on a flight that landed on the same runway just minutes before the Southwest flight.
Bob Glickman and his wife, Katie, were driving away from the airport after arriving on an earlier flight when they heard a noise.
"Then we saw the nose of the plane burst through the retaining wall about 30 feet away from us," said Glickman. "It was unbelievable to see the explosion as it came through the fence."
Glickman said something hit the car and knocked off its bumper.
"We figured the wing probably missed us by 20 feet," he said.
Southwest officials said the carrier, known for its bargain ticket prices, has not had a fatality in its 30-year history.