SANFORD, Fla. -- A jet carrying 147 people made a safe landing without its front landing gear at Orlando-Sanford International Airport Thursday afternoon.

The Allegiant Air MD-80, flight 758 out of Portsmouth, N.H., circled for nearly an hour before landing.

"The crew reported a hydraulics problem related to the nose gear," Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said.

Sky 6 video showed the jet landing on its back wheels, before leveling out for several hundred feet and having the nose of the plane touch down. It then skidded to a complete stop on the runway.

"The aircraft experienced a hydraulic problem with the front nose-gear. The nose-gear was not coming down. They circled around for an hour and finally managed to land without it," Diane Crews, executive vice president of Orlando-Sanford International Airport said.

"There were some sparks and a lot of smoke, no flames," she said.

Passengers and crew members evacuated the aircraft via slides. A woman sprained her ankle but refused treatment. There were no other injuries.

Local 6 News reported that the airport closed because of the incident. It wasn't immediately known when it would reopen.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.