On Monday, a United Airlines Boeing plane was forced to make an emergency landing in Texas just minutes into its flight after flames erupted from one of its jet engines.
Shocking video shows bright orange sparks flying several feet from the bottom of the plane’s left wing, just inches from the passenger windows.
The raging flames were so hot that they appeared almost white against the night sky.
“Guys, we’ve noticed something has happened outside,” a crew member says fearfully over the intercom, and the short video cuts out.
United Airlines Flight 1118 immediately returned to the George H. Bush Intercontinental Houston Airport from where it had taken off minutes earlier just before 7 p.m.
The plane was only “about 15 minutes” into its two-hour journey to Fort Myers, Florida, when the incident occurred, Dorian D. Saada, the passenger who filmed the disturbing video, told Storyful .
Fortunately, no one was injured in this terrifying ordeal.
“Flight 1118 returned to Houston shortly after takeoff due to engine trouble,” United Airlines said in a statement to Storyful.
“The plane landed safely and passengers disembarked as usual,” United said, adding that “a new aircraft has been arranged to transport customers to their destinations.”
The plane was a Boeing 737-900, a design similar to the new Max plane that was grounded in January after the door plug from the center cabin exit was torn off an Alaska Airlines jet while flying over Oregon. was.
The cause of the United Airlines engine fire is still unknown and the Federal Aviation Administration is investigating.
