Passengers were in the middle of disembarking an aircraft when the nose of the plane suddenly tipped up into the air, leaving many shocked and confused.
The JetBlue aircraft — a budget airline in the US — had just landed at New York’s JFK International Airport from Barbados when it suddenly “lost balance” causing it to “abruptly tip backward”.
Around half the passengers had already disembarked the Airbus A321 when a flight attendant jumped on the speaker to inform the remaining passengers the nose of the plane was about 10 feet (three metres) in the air and that they all needed to shift their weight.
Sinead Bovell, a “futurist” and regular tech commentator on CNN, was allegedly on the plane when the incident unfolded. She shared a now viral TikTok explaining the “scary” situation.
“We landed in JFK from Bridgetown Barbados. I was seated maybe three quarters of the way back into the plane and when just over half the plane exited, the plane abruptly tipped backwards so quickly and intensely that the tail of the plane hit the pavement,” Sinead said.
“Part of the jet bridge and part of the plane door broke.
“Airport crew said they heard in their walkie talkies the nose of the plane is 10 feet in the air.”
Sinead said she had to move to the front as remaining passengers had to “strategically rebalance the plane”.
“[It] was scary because it tipped back down,” she added.
“We then had to strategically exit the plane two rows at a time and take a break.
“Thank goodness nobody was actually exiting the plane at the time it tipped backwards because (of) the state of that door.”
Sinead’s clip, which has since been viewed 1.5 million times, has attracted thousands of comments with many asking “how” it is possible.
A JetBlue spokesperson told CNN once the plane arrived at the gate, “due to a shift in weight and balance during deplaning, the tail of the aircraft tipped backward causing the nose of the aircraft to lift up and eventually return back down”.
News.com.au has contacted JetBlue for comment.
“There were no injuries reported and no disruptions to airport operations,” the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, told USA Today in a statement.
Meanwhile, others weighed in on what they thought could have caused the incident.
“At United we use a tail stand to prevent this type of situation. Looks like this was not used. Only certain aircraft require this,” one person wrote on TikTok.
“I work for a major airline. That usually happens when they offload bags from the front cargo first. They should offload the back first,” added another, while a third wrote: “They didn’t put the tail stand, once the flight get there, you chock the tires and then you put the tail stand before you offload the plane.”