A JetBlue aircraft performed an emergency landing at LAX on Wednesday night, touching down on its main gear and sliding to a halt as flames flashed from its twisted nose gear.

JetBlue Flight 292 left Burbank’s Bob Hope Airport at 3:17 p.m. Pacific time carrying 145 passengers. It was headed for New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport when the problem with its nose gear forced the plane to abort its flight.

“Shortly after the plane took off, the pilot discovered that he may have a landing gear problem,” Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Donn Walker told Reuters.

With its nose gear bent perpendicular to the plane’s body, a normal landing was impossible. The Airbus A320 aircraft circled the skies over Los Angeles for several hours as airport ground crews prepared for the landing.

The craft did not have the ability to dump fuel so it flew at maximum drag to burn off fuel off and lessen chance of exploding upon impact.

The plane, which had two pilots and four flight attendants on board, landed on the southernmost runway of LAX, lined on both sides by L.A. Fire Department crews.

It landed at 6:18 p.m., touching on its rear wheels while the pilot eased the useless front wheels down. Friction with the runway caused flames to shoot out from the front wheels, but the plane stayed on course. About 20 ambulances and 24 fire companies arrived at the scene within 30 seconds.

Passengers, accompanied by fire officials, began slowly descending the stairs within 15 minutes of the plane’s landing. There were no apparent injuries.

Several incoming flights at LAX were backed up temporarily while the southern runways were closed for the emergency landing. Flights on the northern end of the airport resumed their normal schedules quickly.

JetBlue Airways Corp., based in Forest Hills, N.Y., flies to 33 U.S. cities and keeps its West Coast hub at Long Beach Airport.