Pilot's "perfect" landing caps crippled airplane's ordeal

LOS ANGELES — He had just completed a dramatic commercial jet landing, and there he stood in the cabin receiving cheers and hugs from grateful passengers.

The pilot of JetBlue Flight 292 had delivered yesterday what experts said was a "perfect" touchdown of a crippled aircraft.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who spoke to the pilot at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), later identified him to reporters as Scott Burke and praised his heroism.

"He joked that he was sorry he put the plane down 6 inches off the [runway's] center line," Villaraigosa said.

A JetBlue spokeswoman declined to provide any information about Burke.

A recording by a cameraman for Los Angeles television station KCAL of the pilot's radio conversation with a ground crew member reveals a calm man who even had time to joke about his predicament.

"Do you want to trade places with me?" Burke asked a mechanic on the ground.

He even had a moment to consider the public-relations repercussions before he made his landing, saying over the radio: "Do we have someone here who is media savvy? I want to keep the media wolves off my back. I've got nothing to say to them."

Before the plane touched down, Burke said in a steady voice, "If you've got nothing else to tell me, I've got nothing else to say."

And with that, he began his descent to LAX. As the malfunctioning nose wheel hit the runaway, the force of impact flattened its two front tires and sent sparks and flames shooting under the plane's fuselage. In a matter of seconds, the plane ground to a halt.

Barry Schiff, a former TWA pilot, praised the JetBlue pilot's work.

"It was done perfectly. He did a superlative job," Schiff said. "Not only did he put the nose down slowly, he kept the plane going straight and the wheel came to a stop on the center roadway. Perfect."

Schiff said he had thought the Airbus A320 plane and the passengers would be fine, but was sure the wheel would collapse, causing the nose of the plane to come down. "I saw the nose wheel touch down and was quite surprised that the nose wheel did not break off and go backward."