Lane Hayes was flying home to North Carolina on Wednesday morning when, just seconds after his plane took off from Las Vegas, he heard a popping noise that “literally sounded like a gunshot.”
Mr. Hayes, who is 38 and works for a health care company, was sitting about three rows behind the right wing on American Airlines Flight 1665, which left Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas at about 8:10 a.m.
As the plane rose into the air with 153 passengers and six crew members aboard, the popping noise continued, Mr. Hayes said. When he leaned over and looked out the window, he said, he saw “flashes of light coming from the engine where it was sparking.”
“It was extremely tense,” he said in an interview. “It felt like forever, and every time that the engine popped, it sounded like gunshots. We were all wondering if it was going to be bigger than the last one.”
Before long, a pilot announced that “we were obviously not taking this plane to Charlotte,” and that it would instead return to the airport in Las Vegas, Mr. Hayes said.
A video of the plane, an Airbus A321, showed it banking in the sky with smoke and bright flashes sputtering from an engine on the right wing.
The plane “returned safely” to Harry Reid International Airport at about 8:20 a.m. local time, about 10 minutes after it had taken off, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, which is investigating the episode.
No injuries were reported, according to the Las Vegas airport, which said the plane had taxied to the gate under its own power. Mr. Hayes said that when the plane landed, some passengers were crying and others were commiserating about their ordeal.
FlightRadar24, a flight tracking service, showed the plane had flown in a small loop around the Las Vegas area.
American Airlines attributed the problem to “a mechanical issue,” and said that after the plane was inspected by maintenance workers, “there was no evidence of fire in the engine.” The plane was taken out of service for further evaluation, the airline said.
An American Airlines spokeswoman said that a maintenance team was inspecting the plane and that it was too early to determine the cause of the engine issue.
“We appreciate the professionalism of our crew and thank our team who are working to get our customers to their destinations as quickly as possible,” American Airlines said in a statement.
Mark Walker contributed reporting.
Michael Levenson covers breaking news for The Times from New York.
The post Passenger Recounts ‘Tense’ Moments After Engine Sparks Force Plane to Land appeared first on New York Times.
