‘It’s flaming.’ Plane engine may have caught fire on CLT runway, FAA to review
The Federal Aviation Association is investigating a possible engine fire after visible flames forced crews to cancel takeoff of an American Airlines flight in Charlotte Thursday evening, officials said.
In a video, flames are seen coming from the plane’s wing on the runway while passengers sat inside Flight 2288 — which was supposed to be headed to Dallas-Fort Worth Airport.
The flames continued for about 10 minutes until the fire department reached the plane, said passenger Frankie Leggington, 19, who shared video footage with The Charlotte Observer.
Babies cried, and people clung to their bags — some screaming and other consoling. But no one knew what was actually going to happen, she said.
“It still going,” one passenger asked in the video.
“Yeah, it’s flaming,” another responded.
A flight attendant warned passengers the cabin may start smelling and asked them to not “freak out.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, just be calm,” the attendant said. “Obviously something happened.”
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Once passengers were cleared to leave the plane, the pilot came over the loud speaker to give props to the passengers for staying so calm, according to Leggington. If the plane had been flying, the whole side of the plane could have blown out, the pilot said, according to Leggington.
The Texas Tech University nursing student estimated more than 200 passengers lined up at the customer service desk for hours late Thursday to early Friday.
American Airlines wanted her to stay in the airport overnight, she said. They didn’t offer her vouchers, she said, because the flight was canceled due to weather.
Bri Harper, the airline’s corporate communications representative, said the 190 passengers and 6 crew members on board eventually boarded another flight, which was later canceled because of weather. The customer relations team was reaching out to affected customers to offer compensation Friday afternoon, Harper wrote.
As of Friday afternoon, Leggington was back home in Albuquerque, New Mexico, but she hadn’t heard anything from the airline.
The FAA said it is continuing its investigation and will release new information as it becomes available.
