Panic on United Airlines flight after flames shoot out of wing on take-off
Panic on United Airlines flight after flames shoot out of wing on take-off
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Passenger videos show smoke and flames shooting out one of the wings. Flames appeared on the wing of a United Airlines plane following an engine issue at Houston’s main airport, resulting in passengers evacuating via slides and stairs. United Airlines flight 1382 was due to fly to New York City just after 8am on Sunday when it was halted while still on the runway and not yet airborne at George Bush Intercontinental Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said.
The crew “safely aborted its takeoff” at the Texas airport due to a “reported engine issue” around 8.35am, the FAA added. Passengers deplaned the Airbus A319 onto the runway and were bused back to the terminal. The flight had 104 passengers and five crew members on board who were due to take off on a flight to New York’s LaGuardia Airport. “Passengers deplaned on the runway via a combination of slides and stairs and were bused to the terminal,” United Airlines said in a statement.
“We lined up a different aircraft to take customers to their destination at 2pm CT.”. Video footage captured by passengers shows smoke emitting from the aircraft and flames sparking out of one of the wings. In one clip, a flight attendant can be heard saying “Please remain seated” to which one passenger responds “No, it’s on fire”. “Please, please, please get us out of here,” another is heard saying.
The HFD later added that although it was on the scene, it “did not put out a fire on this incident” and said it is aware of the video but “when our units arrived, there was no fire to put out”. Roslyn Tenpow told ABC7 that she immediately thought of her loved ones when the incident started. "My kids, my family. I just came back from Guyana visiting my mom," Tenpow said. She added that once another plane was ready to take the evacuated passengers to New York, she was nervous to board.
"I was the last person to get on the plane. I was scared," she said. Concerns over air safety have increased since an American Airlines passenger jet collided with an Army helicopter midair near Washington D.C. last week, with all 67 passengers and crew presumed dead. The fatal incident occurred on Wednesday evening along the banks of the Potomac River near Reagan National Airport becoming the deadliest US air disaster in nearly 25 years.
