American Airlines Flight From Long Beach Makes Forced Landing Fuel Gauges Reportedly Malfunction POSTED: 5:12 am PDT July 15, 2005 FORT WORTH, Texas -- An American Airlines plane full of passengers was forced to land Thursday at Fort Worth Meacham Airport, about 20 miles west of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. According to a local NBC report in Dallas, the pilot of the plane initially radioed that the plane's fuel gauges malfunctioned before deciding to land at Meacham Airport after the pilot decided to land there. (note from David R: does this paragraph make sense to anybody?) "We started banking again really hard to the left and right," said one passenger. "And all of the sudden he dove out of the sky," said another. "Then he came on after we landed and said we were having fuel problems." American Airlines officials said flight 1456 was en route to D/FW Airport from Long Beach, Calif., when it was diverted. Air traffic controllers directed the plane to the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve base, but American Airlines officials said the captain noticed he was closer to Meacham. He radioed Meacham tower, which cleared him to land. American Airlines officials added that this was well within the captain's scope of authority in this emergency, and found nothing wrong with his actions. Buses soon arrived to finish the trip to D/FW Airport, which was a welcome sight for weary passengers. "I missed my flight to Boston," said one passenger. "So, I'm going to head out in the morning." American Airlines was helping connecting passengers book other flights, and helping local passengers get their baggage. Copyright 2005 by NBC4.tv.