In what is a narrow escape, a British Airways Boeing 777-200 (flight 2276) aborted its take off from Las Vegas airport at the last moment as its port side (left) engine caught fire. The jet liner was bound to London’s Gatwick airport.
Reports say that the passengers noticed smoke emanating from the engine in question as the plane initiated its take off procedure. The smoke was quickly followed by a bitter smell like burning rubber.
The pilots acted quickly to abort the take off and applied the brakes (reportedly at 89 mph). Even as the captain contacted the airport’s emergency response team, the crew began evacuation process through the emergency slides.
Panic ensued as some passengers reportedly reached for their luggage (sigh) instead of ditching the aircraft. Nevertheless, all 159 passengers and 13 crew of the BA flight 2276 were evacuated on to the runway in just about 5 mins from the captain’s first distress call. At least 13 passengers are said to have been taken to hospital either due to injuries sustained during evacuation or because of smoke inhalation.
#DEVELOPING: Two injured as passengers evacuate fire-engulfed plane on Las Vegas runway http://t.co/WVv8Xr6EmL pic.twitter.com/g6bpypm8EC
— WSB-TV (@wsbtv) September 9, 2015
Fortunately, the pilots and the crew adhered to the emergency procedures and did a great job of saving the passengers. The fire too was quickly doused before it engulfed the entire aircraft. Had the engine failure which caused the fire occurred a minute later, the plane would’ve been already airborne or would’ve been running too fast to be stopped before the end of the runway. We are glad that the catastrophic incident didn’t result in fatalities.
#DEVELOPING: Two injured as passengers evacuate fire-engulfed plane on Las Vegas runway http://t.co/WVv8Xr6EmL pic.twitter.com/g6bpypm8EC
— WSB-TV (@wsbtv) September 9, 2015
Just evacuated on a British Airways flight at Las Vegas airport after an engine caught fire. Don’t think anyone hurt pic.twitter.com/Y986xW9Wzy
— Jacob Steinberg (@JacobSteinberg) September 8, 2015
At least 13 people suffer minor injuries after British Airways plane fire – airport official http://t.co/EyFPozd7P9 pic.twitter.com/iOxQQ9WXvS
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) September 9, 2015
Passengers and crew escape fire on British Airways plane in Las Vegas: http://t.co/RgHLx28Trz pic.twitter.com/qP3sgQcldz
— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) September 9, 2015
