Actress says JetBlue landing was `surreal'

Friday, September 23rd 2005, 9:47 am

By: News On 6

LOS ANGELES (AP) _ Taryn Manning says watching TV at her seat as a JetBlue airliner circled the region for three hours before making an emergency landing was the most ``out-of-body experience I ever had.''

The ``Hustle & Flow'' actress was among 140 passengers as the plane, which had a crippled nose wheel, touched down safely Wednesday at Los Angeles International Airport. No one was injured.

``When we saw our plane on TV as `breaking news' ... it was the most surreal, out-of-body experience I ever had,'' Manning told talk-show host Craig Ferguson on Thursday during a taping of CBS' ``The Late Late Show.''

JetBlue airliners have satellite television monitors installed in the backs of seats. Passengers on the Burbank-to-New York flight watched their own drama unfolding on the news until just before landing.

While the plane circled Southern California to burn off excess fuel, Manning said that she, like other passengers, wrote a note to her family.

``I just composed a little something so that if anything happened they would know that our last goodbye wasn't on the phone,'' she said.

Passengers displayed a range of emotions during their ordeal, said Manning, whose screen credits also include ``8 Mile'' and ``Crossroads.''

``A lot of the women of course were crying,'' she said. ``There was a gentleman across the way who was writing in his journal and crying, and seeing that isn't easy.''

When the plane finally touched down safely amid a shower of sparks and smoke as its front tire disintegrated, Manning said passengers burst into a deafening round of cheers and applause.

``It sounded like Dodger Stadium in there,'' she said.