An incident involving an American Airlines flight at New York’s JFK Airport now appears to have been much more serious that first disclosed.
The National Transportation Safety Board is launching an investigation after Flight 300 hit a runway marker on takeoff.
It has now been disclosed the plane ‘was as close as anybody would ever want to come to crashing’ a source told CBS News.
According to an exchange with air traffic control, the pilot said the plane had an ‘uncommanded roll.’
"We were banking, uncontrolled bank 45 degrees to the left," the pilot could be heard saying.
That caused the wing tip to scrape along the ground and then hit a runway sign.
The pilots managed to gain control and turn around the plane to land back at JFK.
The Airbus A321 touched down safely without any injuries, although it caused panic aboard with screams of terror according to passenger Jeff Tahler.
"Suddenly, the plane’s out of control, people are screaming — the guy turned next to me, had fear in his eyes, and we were out of control," he said.
"The FAA, American Airlines, and the Allied Pilots Association will be parties to the NTSB’s investigation," the NTSB said.
"We are fully cooperating with the National Transportation Safety Board in its investigation of Flight 300," American said in a statement.
