'Crying and screaming' as plane made emergency landing in Denver, Southwest passenger says

DENVER (KDVR) — Julianna Donadio was on Southwest Airlines flight No. 225 from Denver to Phoenix Monday night when the jet had to return to Denver International Airport, making an emergency landing after one of the tires failed at takeoff.

Southwest said the flight landed without incident, but Donadio said it was a frightening experience.

"When the flight attendants said we were going to have an emergency landing, we started to panic a little bit. People were definitely crying and screaming and trying to console one another," Donadio said.

The Boulder resident was on her way to visit her mother in Phoenix. She said there was a loud noise during takeoff. 

"We knew we blew a tire, but we didn't know what the landing gear situation was," she said. "They started preparing us for crash position, so having our head between our knees, and they were informing the emergency exit line how to open the doors and operate potentially the slides."

The pilot and crew remained calm, she said, adding that she's very grateful to them.

"When we landed everyone was cheering and clapping," she said.

According to FlightAware, the aircraft was a Boeing 737-700. Southwest says the aircraft has redundant hydraulic systems. While it appears one system might have been affected, the other remained operational.

The passengers were able to board a separate aircraft for their flight to Phoenix. FlightAware said the plane left DIA again at 10:26 p.m. and arrived in Arizona at 11:07 p.m. — nearly three hours and 45 minutes after the scheduled arrival.