Aircraft catches fire after landing in Denver, sending passengers onto wing as smoke engulfs plane

An American Airlines jet caught fire after the plane diverted to Denver and forced passengers to exit the aircraft using emergency slides.

DENVER — A fire on an American Airlines plane after it diverted mid-flight and landed at Denver International Airport sent passengers fleeing onto a wing in a fraught evacuation amid billowing clouds of smoke. Airport officials said 12 people were taken to hospitals with minor injuries.

The country has seen a recent spate of aviation disasters and close calls stoking fears about air travel, though flying remains a safe way to travel. Recent on-the-ground accidents included a plane that crashed and flipped over upon landing in Toronto and a Japan Airlines plane that clipped a parked Delta plane while it was taxiing at the Seattle airport.

Flight 1006 was headed from the Colorado Springs to Dallas Fort Worth on Thursday but diverted to Denver after the crew reported engine vibrations. It landed safely around 5:15 p.m., the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement. An engine on the Boeing 737-800 caught fire as it taxied to the gate, the FAA added.

Passengers described people exiting the plane onto its left wing, as an engine beneath the right wing burned and black smoke surrounded the aircraft. They lined up and got to the ground using slides and ladders brought over by ground crews, according to the FAA, video footage and passenger interviews.

All 172 passengers and six crew members were safely evacuated, authorities said. American Airlines referred questions about the 12 people taken to hospitals to local officials.

The damaged plane was seen parked behind a hangar at the airport Friday.

Passengers' accounts of what happened

Passenger Hani Levi said she felt a “very strong vibration” after the plane took off, followed later by an announcement that there would an emergency landing emergency landing in Denver because of an apparent engine problem.

As the plane taxied to the gate, the former military airplane mechanic from Las Vegas who was sitting in a window seat, saw smoke coming from the wing and then fire. A passenger said to evacuate, but Levi said some people were panicking and a mother screamed that she needed to get off with her two children, one of whom tried to run toward the front of the plane, she said.

Black smoke filled the cabin as people crowded the exit, but Levi had to remain seated because a handicapped woman was between her and the aisle. As they waited for a wheelchair, Levi watched black smoke and flames spitting from the wing just feet from her seat. People could be heard jostling to get off the plane in videos Levi took, with one person saying “orderly, orderly” and another saying “go go.”

“I chose to stay calm,” said Levi, who said she tried not to breathe deeply to avoid inhaling the smoke.

Passenger Daniel Friedman said he started thinking about writing a eulogy as the chaotic evacuation unfolded. He described people pushing and shoving to get off.

“Really I just wanted to make sure we got here safe and didn’t know if it was going to happen or not,” Friedman told WRAL-TV, “I don’t wish that upon anybody.”

Twelve people were treated at the University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora Thursday night and released, the hospital said Friday.

A replacement plane and crew took passengers to Dallas-Fort Worth, the airline said. The flight landed Friday around 5 a.m. local time, according to the flight-tracking website FlightAware.

How common are airplane engine fires?

American Airlines said in a statement that the flight experienced an engine-related issue after taxiing to the gate. There was no immediate clarification on exactly when the plane caught fire.

Engine fires are rare, and crews trained to deal with them, aviation expert Steven Wallace said. They typically are not catastrophic even if they occur in the air because planes can fly with a single engine, he said.

“A pilot going to work for an airline today could likely fly for 30 years and never experience an engine failure,” said Wallace, a former director of the FAA’s accident investigations office.

Two engine fires made news in recent weeks: a fire on a United Airlines flight Feb. 2 as it was preparing to take off from Houston and a March 1 fire on a FedEx cargo plane that made an emergency landing in New Jersey following a bird strike.

Former National Transportation Safety Board Chairman James Hall said the reported engine vibrations on the American flight were unusual but a slew of problems could have caused them and a fire, making it difficult to speculate on.

As for the recent spate of aviation incidents, “given the past history, you can classify it as unusual,” said Hall, but “I don’t know if you have enough information to draw any conclusions.”

The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board said they will investigate.

The plane was built in 2012 with an engine from CFM International. Boeing declined comment, and CFM did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In a statement, American Airlines thanked its employees and first responders “for their quick and decisive action” following the accident.

Colorado resident Ian Paisley was flying from Denver to Hawaii on Friday with his family and heard about Thursday’s fire but didn’t think that it would change their plans.

“We can have confidence that even though these are terrible things that happen and very frightening for people, that for most of us it’s not going to be something that affects our lives,” he said.

Brumfield reported from Washington and Brown reported from Billings, Montana.

Article by Thomas Peipert, Sarah Brumfield, Jesse Bedayn, Colleen Slevin And Matthew Brown.