An observant passenger on a Southwest Airlines flight headed from Houston, Texas, to Cancun, Mexico, was able to capture footage of the plane’s right engine spewing flames this week, as well as an observer on the ground, per multiple reports.
CNN shared video apparently shot by a passenger with a note that read “Ricardo Garcia/TMX.”
According to NBC News, Flight 307 out of Hobby Airport was only in the air for 16 minutes before it had to turn back Tuesday night. Andrew Sandino, a 38-year-old mechanical engineer, was leaving work near Hobby when he captured the flames shooting out of an engine, said NBC.
“I noticed big black plumes of smoke coming out the right engine and then it started shooting really big fireballs out and the plane was shifting back and forth, side to side, pretty heavily,” he told the outlet Thursday.
Sandino was concerned that the plane would crash and that the engine would explode and send “shrapnel everywhere.”
Thankfully, the plane landed and none aboard were injured.
A statement from Southwest explained that the aircraft landed safely despite the frightening looking flames. It has been taken out of service for review, said the airline.
“A different aircraft continued the flight to Cancun last evening, and we appreciate our Customers’ patience and support,” the statement added. NBC noted that Southwest is one of the few U.S. based carriers to have never had a fatal crash.
Kathleen Bangs, a former commercial airline pilot and spokesperson for FlightAware, a company that provides flight-tracking services, also said that the flight was never likely in serios trouble.
“I’ve flown, as a pilot, that route between Houston and Cancun many times,” Bangs said, according to NBC News. “While it wouldn’t be ideal to have an engine fire or failure over the middle of the Gulf of Mexico, the jet can operate safely on one engine.”
However, there are some situations where passengers should feel concerned on a plane. Audacy’s “Something Offbeat” podcast covered some of them this summer.
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