New | Near-miss in Chicago after American Airlines plane blows tyre and catches fire before take-off
Inside the aircraft after it came to a stop, frantic passengers shouted at each other to hurry while making their way down the aisle to an emergency exit slide
The engine of an American Airlines jet caught fire as the aircraft was about to depart Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on Friday, prompting the crew to abort take-off and evacuate passengers via emergency chutes, authorities said.
No serious injuries were reported in the incident, which occurred just hours before a similar, unrelated mishap in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where the landing gear of a FedEx cargo plane collapsed, sparking a fire that was quickly extinguished. The company later said the FedEx pilots were safe.
American Airlines Flight 383, a Boeing 767 bound for Miami with 161 passengers and a crew of nine, was headed down an O’Hare runway at about 2.30pm when the right-side engine of the twin-engine jet burst into flames, authorities said.
Footage from Chicago’s ABC News affiliate station, WLS-TV, showed the idled plane on the ground with flames and large clouds of black smoke billowing from its right side and emergency slides deployed on the left side. Passengers milled about watching the blaze as fire trucks pumped water on the flames.
Timothy Sampey, assistant deputy fire commissioner for airport operations, said the mishap could have been much worse.
The plane was fully loaded with 19,504kg of jet fuel, which was leaking when fire crews reached the jet, Sampey told a news conference later.
They had a heavy volume of fire on both the engine and the entire wing. This could have been absolutely devastating if it happened later
