At least one person was injured when a plane departing Denver International Airport was forced to abort takeoff due to a landing gear failure — causing passengers to flee the flaming and smoking aircraft on an inflatable emergency slide in a chaotic scene captured on harrowing video Saturday.
American Airlines Flight 3023 had a landing gear incident as it was taking off for Miami around 2:45 p.m. local time, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
“Flight 2023, you got a lot of smoke,” an air traffic controller can be heard telling the pilot in cockpit audio from Live ATC, 9News reported.
“There was some flames. Looks like the smoke is dying down a bit,” they said.
“You are actually on fire,” the controller quickly added moments later.
Video showed passengers frantically sliding down an inflatable safety slide as thick black smoke billowed from flames engulfing the rear left side of the aircraft.
The Denver Fire Department announced it had extinguished the blaze in a social media post at 5:10 p.m. local time.
The airline said there was an issue specifically involving the Boeing 737 MAX 8’s tire, Denver 7 reported.
All 173 passengers and six crew members evacuated the plane “safely,” American Airlines said in its statement.
Six people were evaluated for minor injuries, with one transported to a local hospital after deplaning, according to Denver 7.
“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.”
Passengers were expected to depart for Miami on another aircraft Saturday, the carried added.
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