A United Airlines flight that departed from Houston, Texas, en route to Fort Meyers, Florida, on Monday was forced to turn back just minutes into the trek after one of the engines caught fire.
The ordeal was captured on video as passengers could only look on helplessly during the mid-air mishap.
According to a video shared with Storyful News & Weather and verified by the New York Post, the left engine of the plane was shooting flames just 15 minutes into the two-hour journey.
It is not clear what caused the incident, but the footage is harrowing.
Grateful to be safely on the ground @united flight 1118 left jet fire over the Gulf of Mexico pic.twitter.com/gy8coL8pjZ
— Jonathan Boulahanis (@jboulah) March 5, 2024
According to the video, which was taken by a passenger named Dorian Cerda, the flight crew remained calm as the plane turned around and headed back to Texas for an emergency landing.
“Hey, ladies and gentlemen,” a pilot told passengers. “We realized something happened outside.”
Should the airlines investigate these mishaps more thoroughly?
Cerda’s video showed an orange glow out a window that sent orange flames backward.
The passenger told Storyful that the plane had taken off about 15 minutes before the video was filmed.
“United Airlines said in a statement ‘Flight 1118 returned to Houston shortly after takeoff due to an engine issue,’” the video-sharing outlet reported.
The outlet added, “‘The flight landed safely and the passengers deplaned normally,’ United Airlines said, adding that they ‘arranged for a new aircraft to take our customers to their destination.’”
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the causes of the engine issue.
According to the Post, the plane was a Boeing 737-900 model, which is similar to the company’s recently grounded Max model.
The Max returned to service recently following a number of issues in the U.S. and two deadly international plane crashes in recent years.
Monday’s ill-fated flight returned safely to George H. Bush Intercontinental Houston Airport.
ABC News reported United 1118 was carrying a total of 167 people, and many of them were crying before their flight landed safely in Texas.
Passengers on board a United Airlines flight could see flames shooting out of an engine while flying to Ft. Myers. The pilot turned back to Houston as emergency crews waited to meet the plane on the tarmac. @MattGutmanABC reports on the midair scare. https://t.co/3wpfn7zIlj pic.twitter.com/ilrRK7FlQg
— World News Tonight (@ABCWorldNews) March 7, 2024
According to the Post, passengers were put on a different plane and arrived later safely in Florida.
