Passengers describe scary emergency landing at TIA

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Passengers of an American Airlines flight described the scary moments during an emergency landing at Tampa International Airport early Tuesday morning.

Airline officials said flight 574 from Phoenix experienced issues with the landing gear as it was arriving in Tampa. The pilot alerted the airport and declared an emergency landing.

The aircraft, which was carrying 146 passengers, landed safely despite major concerns with the landing gear. Passengers told FOX 13 that it circled around for about 45 minutes before the landing.

"When we started to circle, I knew that it was the landing gear that had not come down, and we were circling to burn off fuel," one passenger said.

"After flying around for about 30 to 45 minutes, the flight crew did an amazing job of getting us prepared, and told us to be prepared for an impact landing. And then they started to yell, literally, 'Prepare for impact, prepare for impact.' And we were all in the impact position with our heads down," passenger Kendall Stahl said.

Passengers said the pilot and crew members did a great job handling the situation and getting the plane on the ground safely. It's a flight that they certainly won't forget.

Officials with American Airlines said that the plane will be evaluated by a maintenance team.