Metro

A wing & a flair

Passengers were singing the praises of a pilot who safely landed an airliner with faulty landing gear at Newark Airport yesterday.

Officials shut the airport for about 20 minutes after United Airlines Flight 634 landed amid cheers and applause from its 48 passengers.

“The pilot was fabulous,” said Jim Falk, 40, of Middletown, NJ, who owns an electrical contracting company.

“It was smooth — it was scary smooth,” Falk said of the landing.

The Airbus 319, arriving from Chicago, touched down on its left and front wheels, tilting over when the aircraft slowed, spraying sparks from beneath the wing.

Two people had minor injuries, officials said.

A United spokesman said passengers would get a full refund. Airline officials did not release the name of the pilot or any of the crew members.

“The guy did a beautiful job,” Falk said. “He didn’t put it in the water like that other pilot did, but he should be commended.”

That “other pilot” is Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, who safely landed a plane filled with 150 passengers on the Hudson River last January.

Yesterday’s flight was approaching Newark shortly before 9 a.m. when an indicator light went on, signaling a problem with the landing gear under the right wing.

The pilot flew over the airport tower so controllers could have a look.

“Right from the beginning, when we knew we had a problem, I wondered if we were going to make it,” said Jim Wiman, 51, a Chicago salesman.

When the plane came down, “I heard a little bit of a grinding sound, but the plane didn’t veer. It stayed straight and came to a stop. It was a great landing. Everyone calmly exited the aircraft. There were certainly a lot of ‘attaboys’ going around.”

Passengers were taken by bus to the terminal.

“The plane’s coming down, and the pilot says, ‘Three minutes,’ and everybody’s looking at their watches,” said Jubin Nakhai, 34, a stonecutter from Haifa, Israel.

“Then he says, ‘Brace, brace,’ and everyone braces. You contemplate that you might not get where you’re going and you might be dismembered in a fiery ball.

“All of a sudden, he said, ‘We’re good, it’s done, we’re safe.’ Everyone was cheering and sobbing and happy. That landing was a smoother landing than when three wheels are there.”

Additional reporting by Chuck Bennett and Larry Celona

philip.messing@nypost.com