The Mercury News has an article describing a situation where a plane took off from Burbank and was headed for New York's Kennedy International Airport.

Aboard the plane, passengers first learned of the problem 10 to 15 minutes into the flight when Burke announced that the plane had a problem with its landing gear, said Mastoon. The pilot said he was in contact with ground crews at Long Beach Airport, where JetBlue has its regional hub, and in New York to try to determine what the problem was.

In a twist that some passengers described as bizarre, the television news accounts were avidly watched on the plane as well. JetBlue provides small screens at each seat with a satellite feed that carries both Fox News and MSNBC, which gave many passengers the clearest indication of their predicament.

"My friend said, 'Hey dude, something's wrong with our plane. We're on TV,' " recalled Jorge Santiago, 24, of El Monte, saying he woke from his slumber and realized the severity of the situation. "Honest to God, I thought it was a dream."

Update: The front wheels of the plane were jammed sideways. Pictures in this CNN article.

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The in-flight broadcasts, however, were turned off before the final moments of the drama. For 15 tense seconds, as passengers braced themselves and prayed, the plane careened down the runway as pilot Scott Burke balanced it on its rear landing gear, holding the nose high to reduce pressure on the malfunctioning front wheel.

The aircraft then settled forward onto the nose wheel. Within moments, the front landing gear began smoking as the rubber tire burned to the rim. The wheel then exploded into a fiery display that burned until the aircraft slowed to a halt.

As the plane came to rest, scores of fire and rescue vehicles sped toward it across the tarmac. But the passengers and crew emerged unhurt, some walking down the stairs waving to cameras and giving one another high-fives. Burke had delivered what experts said was a "perfect" touchdown of a crippled aircraft.

"He walked off the plane with a big smile on his face, just cool as a cucumber. He joked that he was sorry he put the plane down 6 inches off the center line," [Los Angeles Mayor] Villaraigosa said.

There's a followup story about how passengers on a later JetBlue flight saw the damaged plane's landing while they were flying:

Less than three hours later, passengers aboard JetBlue flight 248 were also able to watch as channels such as MSNBC played, over and over, video footage of the Los Angeles landing, in which no one was injured despite a fiery shower of sparks as its dysfunctional landing gear burned up.

The fact that the television service was not turned off on my flight--let alone on the fight that had actually had the mechanical problems--was a surprise to some of my fellow passengers, given that airlines have long been reluctant to show movies or any other video involving airplanes in distress.