CHARLOTTE — Passengers of a flight about to take off from Charlotte Douglas International Airport on Thursday got a sight no one wants to see when they look out the window: flames shooting out of the wing.
Frankie Liggington shared a video of the incident with Channel 9, adding that the plane had to return to the station on Thursday night.
“We were cruising as normal when the wheels come up, you feel a bit of a bump,” said Liggington. Then all of a sudden, you hear an explosion.
The video shows the aircraft, an Airbus A321, descending the runway at CLT while smoke and flames are seen from the right wing.
“Everyone started to panic,” Liggington said.
“No one knows what’s going on, so everyone’s first instinct is, Is the plane going to blow up,” Liggington said. “So everyone grabs their bags trying to run and run down the aisle.”
Leggington, who was seated near the emergency exit, recorded a video from her window seat.
I sent the video to other passengers.
“Everyone was trying to panic but we couldn’t go anywhere. That was the biggest fear,” said passenger Claire Dundon.
Channel 9 reached out to American Airlines on Friday morning after learning of the incident. Flight 2288 to Dallas-Fort Worth reported a “mechanical problem” and returned safely to the gate under its own power, AA said in a statement.
says a. a. The aircraft has been taken out of service for maintenance purposes. The cause of the fire is not clear.
There were no reports of injuries.
FlightRadar24 caught the plane’s path It landed on the runway and then returned to the airport.
According to flight logs, the plane that caught fire landed in Charlotte earlier Thursday after a flight from Rhode Island.
Passengers bound for Dallas boarded a different plane, but it was canceled due to bad weather.
The airline said it was offering compensation to these passengers.
This is a developing story, check back for updates.
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