A Virgin Atlantic flight bound for Las Vegas was forced to make an emergency landing Monday at Gatwick Airport in London after experiencing problems with its landing gear.
Flight VS43, carrying 447 passengers and 15 crew members, circled for several hours to dump fuel before making a
"bumpy but safe landing" Monday afternoon, the BBC reported.
The plane was forced to land without a full set of landing gear, the news site said. Gatwick, which is where the plane departed from, closed a runway and put emergency personnel on standby for the landing.
The Mirror U.K. reported that some passengers on board the flight were terrified as it circled for about four hours.
"It was anxious, a lot were worried, some crying. The mood was quiet and [we were] just waiting for the captain's next announcement," passenger Dan Crane told the Mirror. "They said it was an emergency landing and we had to brace on impact."
He posted kudos to the pilot and photos from inside the plane on his Twitter account.
Hardeek Desai, another passenger, told the Mirror that passengers were "screaming and shouting" as the plane landed.
"The staff were trying to keep everyone calm but a few passengers were a bit panicky," he said. "The staff were giving out drinks and water to make sure everyone was OK, but generally the mood was pretty good, until we hit the brace position. For my mind, personally, I was a bit worried, thinking what's going to happen? It doesn't really seem normal that fuel is coming out of the wing. I was slightly worried but just trying to keep calm and listen to what the staff were telling us. Around 30 seconds before we actually hit the ground, we were told to adopt the brace."