Passengers evacuated an American Airlines jet at Denver International Airport on emergency slides after the landing gear caught fire during an aborted takeoff, sending black smoke billowing into the air.
One of the 173 passengers was hospitalized with minor injuries while exiting the Boeing 737 MAX 8 that had been due to fly to Miami International Airport on Saturday, according to officials.
A video shared with NBC News by a passenger, who wished to remain anonymous, showed the aircraft gathering speed on the runway — before a loud bang was heard followed by strong vibrations and the plane stopping. Meanwhile a round piece of debris was seen rolling from underneath the plane and off the side of the runway.
“I heard a loud boom so I knew something blew up under the plane,” passenger Mark Tsurkis told NBC News. “I said, ‘That’s not good,’ and right away the captain started slowing the plane down. Then somebody said, ‘Look!’ So we looked on the left side, in the window, and we see one of the wheels of the plane” rolling away.
Once the aircraft came to a halt, Tsurkis said, he started to smell burning. “Somebody screamed, ‘Fire!,'” he said. “So they opened up the emergency doors and we slid down on those inflatable slides.”
Five people were checked by medics at the scene and one was taken to the hospital, the airline said. Other passengers received criticism online after videos showed them carrying cabin bags while leaving the burning aircraft.
“Remember, during emergency evacuations, it’s important for passengers to follow crew instructions,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy wrote on X. “Leave your luggage behind!”
This has become such an endemic problem — passengers stopping to get their bags during emergencies — that the Federal Aviation Administration carried out a study published in December. Though there were several recommendations, the conclusion was clear: “Passenger retrieval of baggage slows down an evacuation.”
American Airlines said its flight 3023 experienced “a maintenance issue” involving “an aircraft tire” before takeoff at around 2:45 p.m. It said the passengers and six crew members had all left the plane “safely” and that the aircraft was taken out of service to be inspected by the airline’s engineers.
“We thank our team members for their professionalism and apologize to our customers for their experience,” it said, adding that passengers were due to take another flight to Miami later the same day.
The FAA said it would investigate.
