Plane makes emergency landing at RDU after mechanical issue

An American Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing Thursday morning at Raleigh-Durham International Airport.

Officials said flight 2472 from Raleigh to Dallas began experiencing trouble at about 9:55 a.m. and landed safely at RDU at 11:48 a.m. The MD-80 aircraft circled for almost two hours to burn off fuel before landing.

"They tried a few things from inside and they didn't work. We saw Lake Jordan several times over and over and over," passenger Paul Jones said.

Jones said passengers were given instructions on how to prepare for a rough landing, but the plane did not experience any issues when it touched down.

Several emergency vehicles were surrounding the runway as the plane landed, but the aircraft was able to taxi to the gate on its own.

Authorities said a the problem was with the main nose gear, which would not retract.

"Apparently there were some issues with the nose gear. It would not actually go back up into the plane, and it was stuck in the down position, so they had to burn fuel," passenger Chad Bryant said.

Bryant said the landing process was tense, and some passengers got a little upset that they didn't know what was happening.

"I travel for business a lot and this has never happened to me," he said.

Officials said 141 passengers and five crew members were on board the plane.