Passengers told ABC30 they felt a big bump upon landing. Nobody really thought there was an emergency until crew members shouted for everyone to get out and they had to escape by the inflatable emergency slides.
"All of the sudden they said get out, get out, get out," passenger Kenneth Kim said. "All the sudden we had to jump out and it was scary. I am still shaken up, but thank God we are all OK."
According to initial JetBlue reports, it said that there were problems with the aircraft's brakes. The Airbus A-320 blew at least two tires while making the hard landing, which caused a fire.
"When we got out, one of the wheels on the left side was on fire, totally on fire," passenger John Castleberry said.
Jim Fagen said he felt like something was wrong back in Long Beach – the tires just didn't feel right to him.
"When we first started out in Long Beach and we were ready to go up in the air, I felt there was a flat tire. I have never had a take-off like that," he said.
Airport officials said in all, there were 15 minor injuries and five were taken to a local hospital.
Passengers said some of the injuries were caused by sliding down the emergency chutes. But not everyone was scared and for 89-year-old Helen Downing thought it was quite thrilling.
"We had to come down the chute and I was pretty excited," she said.
