Plane engine bursts into flames as passengers evacuated  

An American Airlines plane engine exploded before catching on fire as its passengers watched flames and smoke coming out of the wing.  

Passengers were horrified after one of the engines of an American Airlines flight caught on fire, while it was on the runway.  

The incident happened on a flight that was scheduled for Texas. The flight was then forced to return back to the Charlotte-Douglas International Airport in North Carolina.  

According to Daily Star on Monday, April 24, one of the passengers onboard the plane, named Frankie Leggington, stated that she “heard an explosion not long after the plane took off”.  

A video shot by Leggington during the flight, which was later posted on social media by Erika Jackson, shows the right engine of the plane on fire, as smoke can be seen coming out of the wing.  

A male voice can be heard in the video as he says, “Oh s***, it’s on fire. Yeah the engine is on fire. It’s flame everywhere”.  

As other passengers started to panic, the flight attendant said, “Ladies and gentlemen, just be calm”. 

“Obviously something has happened and the pilots are working on and will tell us what’s going on”. 

“Just be calm, and let’s hear what’s going on exactly and we will get direction from there.” 

All the passengers were then evacuated after the plane reached the gate.  

“Nobody knows what’s happening so it’s everyone’s first instinct, is the plane is going to blow”, said Leggington, adding, “So everyone is grabbing their bags trying to run up and run in the aisle”.  

Following the incident, a statement was also released by American Airlines that said that the incident happened due to a “mechanical issue”. They also stated that the plane “was out of service for maintenance”, but the cause of the fire is still not clear.