The Federal Aviation Administration reported that an engine on an American Airlines airplane caught fire following Thursday’s flying diversion to Denver, necessitating the emergency slide-based passenger evacuation.
Denver International Airport claimed 12 individuals were sent to hospitals with minor injuries, however the airline claimed all 172 passengers and six staff members had left the aircraft.
After the crew reported engine vibrations, American Airlines Flight 1006 from Colorado Springs on a Boeing 737-800 landed in Denver about 5:15pm (4:15am PKT), veering from its intended target of Dallas, the FAA said.
Social media was inundated with several spectacular videos of people standing on the plane’s wing while smoke emanated from the engine.
American Airlines claimed the aircraft had a “engine-related issue” but landed safely and taxied to the gate. We arrived directly from Pittsburgh and were close (gate) B44. Aaron Clark, the witness, stopped by the windows for a while and observed a flash of unexpected fire accompanied by a lot of smoke.
“Ground crew members seemed to have promptly extinguished the somewhat minor fire. We watched people beginning to leave the rear slides as the smoke persisted for a little.
Based on flight tracking website FlightRadar24, the 13-year-old plane had two CFM56 engines built by joint venture between GE and Safran, CFM International.
The FAA promised to look at the occurrence. According to a Denver International Airport spokesman, the fire was put out and aircraft operations carried on as usual. GE and Boeing said nothing.
The engine fire is the most recent in a string of well-publicized aviation events casting doubt on US aviation safety, including the January 29 mid-air collision between an Army helicopter killing 67 people and an American Airlines regional flight.
Though all of the passengers and crew members survived the incident, last month a Delta Air Lines regional plane overturned upside down upon landing at Toronto Pearson Airport in windy conditions following a snowfall, injuring eighteen of the eighty individuals on board.
Along with growing economic uncertainty, American Airlines CEO Robert Isom and Delta CEO Ed Bastian on Tuesday mentioned recent plane accidents and weather disasters as contributing causes to declining US travel demand.
