Passengers aboard a flight to Miami are evacuated after landing gear caught on fire during take off, on Saturday. Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI | License Photo
Passengers aboard a flight to Miami are evacuated after the landing gear caught on fire during takeoff.
The Denver Fire Department said the landing gear malfunction occurred when the American Airlines flight was on the runway on Saturday.
“I heard a loud boom so I knew something blew up under the plane,” passenger Mark Tsurkis said. “Someone shouted out look and we looked on the left side, in the window, and we saw one of the wheels of the plane rolling away.”
“It was definitely an unpleasant moment, but we were lucky that we didn’t get up in the air yet, so we weren’t airborne just yet,” he added.
American Airlines later confirmed that the aircraft had a maintenance issue with a tire.
Out of 173 passengers, one was hospitalized with minor injuries, according to officials.
“American Airlines flight 3023 experienced a maintenance issue prior to takeoff at Denver International Airport (DEN). All customers and crew deplaned safely, and the aircraft was taken out of service to be inspected by our maintenance team,” American Airlines said in a statement. “We thank our team members for their professionalism and apologize to our customers for their experience.”
