A United Airlines plane was forced to abort takeoff at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on Monday after one of its engines caught fire, and shocking video from the runway showed smoke pouring from one wing.
United Airlines Flight 2091 was scheduled to fly to Seattle around 2 p.m. when an engine exploded on the taxiway, forcing 148 passengers and five crew members to evacuate after the Airbus 320 was towed to the gate, the Federal Aviation Administration and United Airlines said in separate statements.
Footage taken by a passenger on board showed thick smoke coming from one wing as the plane was taxiing down the runway.
Passenger Ivan Paloalto, who recorded the video, told Storyful he heard an explosion as the plane was nearing takeoff.
“I felt a bang on the window and when I looked I saw the engine was on fire and smoking,” he said.
The FAA said it was temporarily suspending all incoming flights to Chicago’s airport on one of the busiest weekends of the year until normal operations resumed at 2:45 p.m.
United Airlines said there were no reports of injuries and that the engine problem was “immediately addressed” by emergency crews.
The airline said passengers disembarked from the plane “normally.”
The airline said it was “working to make alternative travel arrangements for customers.”
Passengers in the Windy City weren’t the only ones experiencing travel woes over Memorial Day weekend.
Passengers at John F. Kennedy International Airport were briefly grounded Monday as authorities monitored powerful thunderstorms moving through the area.
With post wire
