Southwest B733 near New Orleans on May 3rd 2014, nose gear steering problems

A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-300, registration N376SW performing flight WN-2778 from Panama City,FL to Houston Hobby,TX (USA), was enroute at FL300 over New Orleans,LA (USA) when the crew decided to divert to New Orleans due to the nose gear steering being inoperative and advised they needed to be towed off the runway. The aircraft landed safely on New Orleans' runway 01 about 25 minutes later. Airport operations performed a sweep of the runway after landing.

A replacement Boeing 737-700 reached Houston with a delay of 2 hours.

A passenger reported they were not told what the problem was, they just arrived in New Orleans without knowing the nature of the problem and why they diverted to New Orleans. The aircraft came to a stop at the end of runway 01, waited for a tug which turned the aircraft around by 180 degrees and towed it to the apron.