Denver plane: United Airlines flight returns to the airport like aircraft wreckage found in neighborhoods outside Denver

The flight returned about 20 minutes after the police department in Broomfield, Colorado, said via Twitter who received reports that a plane flying over the suburbs of Denver had engine problems and “threw debris in several neighborhoods around 1:08 pm”

The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed in a statement that a Boeing 777-200 safely returned to Denver International Airport after “experiencing a failure in the right engine shortly after takeoff”.

“The FAA is aware of reports of debris near the plane’s flight path,” the statement said.

United Airlines told CNN that there were 241 people, including 10 crew members, on flight 328.

Pilots are heard issuing a distress call, telling air traffic controllers “we had an engine failure,” according to CNN flight 328 communications from Flight 328.

Rachel Welte, a spokeswoman for the Broomfield Police Department, told a news conference that police had received calls from residents who said they heard a strong explosion.

“So they basically started seeing what they thought was a plane falling from the sky. What it was was debris,” said Welte, describing the debris as “possibly some external parts of the plane.”

The police are working to contain the security of the large wreckage to the National Transportation Safety Board, which will be responsible for the investigation, according to the FAA.

“The NTSB opened an investigation into the February 20, 2021 engine event on a United 777. Denver NTSB investigators are responding,” NTSB spokesman Peter Knudson told CNN.

In the meantime, Broomfield police have warned residents not to touch or move the plane wreckage if they see it in their backyard, as the NTSB “wants all the wreckage to remain in place for investigation”.

Kieran Cain told CNN that he was playing with his children at a local elementary school when a plane flew over and they heard a loud crash.

“We saw it fall, we heard the big explosion, we looked up, there was black smoke in the sky,” Cain told CNN.

“The wreckage started to rain, and you know, it looked like it was floating and not too heavy, but now looking at it, it’s giant pieces of metal all over the place,” he said.

“I was surprised to see that the plane continued without interruption, without really changing its trajectory or doing anything,” he said. “It just went the way it was going as if nothing had happened.”

Cain said that he and his children took shelter under a ledge while the rubble fell.