A passenger on a United Airlines flight captured the moment when one of the plane’s engines caught fire and started to crumble after he left Denver, Colorado, on Saturday.
A pilot on United 328 flight to Honolulu told air traffic control that the plane had an “engine failure” after reporting a “distress”, officials said. Large pieces of metal debris fell in the nearby town of Broomfield, Colorado.
Passengers aboard the flight, which carried 231 passengers and 10 crew members, set the engine on fire as it flew across the sky. The video showed the frightening sight of the disassembled and burning airplane engine.
The plane’s crew managed to land safely back to Denver after the brief but harrowing departure.
Authorities asked residents of the Broomfield area to leave the metal parts that fell from the sky, as National Transportation Safety Board investigators “want all the wreckage to remain in place for investigation”.
Broomfield police said on Saturday there were no reports of injuries.
