Terrified passengers can be heard clapping and clapping as their United Airlines plane landed safely in Colorado after suffering a burning engine failure in the air.
Video shared with 9 Denver News had captured the mysterious silence in Flt. 328 as it approached the emergency landing Saturday afternoon after urgent calls in May when one of its engines caught fire and rained debris over Denver.
The silence of the passengers was then replaced by shouts, applause and a loud “yes!” while the wheels of the Boeing 777-200 touched down at Denver International Airport.
Another video shared with 9 News had captured some of the previous terror suffered by the plane’s 231 passengers, some of whom later admitted in interviews that they assumed they would not do so alive.
As waiting teams he sprayed water on the jet, footage from the fuselage captured a woman complaining, while a female voice begged “let me go home, please!”
The unidentified passenger herself said she never wanted to “get on a plane” after the terrifying miss.
No injuries were reported aboard the jet launched in Honolulu, despite dramatic videos showing one of the engines on fire and swaying.
There were some, too no complaint of injuries in the suburban Broomfield, where huge pieces of engine and debris landed in courtyards, parks and vehicles.
United Airlines said it was offering accommodation to anyone too traumatized to fly home, but revealed that “most” of the passengers took a new flight to Honolulu.
The 26-year-old jet was powered by two Pratt & Whitney PW4000 engines.
Investigators will focus on what caused the crash, including whether a fan blade failed, authorities and experts said.
Boeing said its technical advisers would help the NTSB with its investigation, while United pledged to “work with federal agencies investigating this incident.”
Engine failures are rare, but potentially dangerous whenever rotating parts puncture the outer casing, an event known as uncontrolled engine failure, which experts say is what appeared to have happened on Saturday.
Pilots practice how to deal with this event frequently and would have immediately turned off anything flammable in the engine, including fuel and hydraulic fluid, using a single switch, said John Cox, a retired pilot who runs a safety consulting firm. Air, Safety Operating Systems.
With mail cables