Terrified passengers can be heard cheering and clapping with relief as their United Airlines jet landed safely in Colorado after a fiery mid-air engine failure.
Video shared with 9 News Denver had caught the eerie silence on Flt. 328 as it neared its crash landing on Saturday afternoon following urgent emergency calls when one of its engines caught fire and debris rained over Denver.
The silence of the passengers was then replaced by screeching, clapping and a loud “yes!” when the wheels of the Boeing 777-200 landed at Denver International Airport.
Another video shared with 9 News had captured some of the earlier terror suffered by the plane’s 231 passengers – some of whom later admitted in interviews that they assumed they wouldn’t make it alive.
Like waiting crews sprayed water over the jet, images from the trunk of a woman moaning, while a woman’s voice begged to “go home, please!”
The same unknown passenger said she never wanted to ‘get on a plane again’ after the terrifying near miss.
No injuries were reported aboard the jet bound to Honolulu, despite the dramatic videos showing one of the engines on fire and rattling loose.
There were too no reports of injuries in a suburb of Broomfield, where huge chunks of engine and debris ended up on yards, parks and vehicles.
United Airlines said the hotel provided accommodation for anyone too traumatized to fly home, but revealed that “the majority” of passengers were taking a new flight to Honolulu instead.
The 26-year-old jet was powered by two Pratt & Whitney PW4000 engines.
Investigators will focus on the cause of the accident, including whether a fan blade is defective, authorities and experts said.
Boeing said its technical advisers would assist the NTSB in its investigation, while United pledged to “work with federal agencies investigating this incident.”
Engine failures are rare – but potentially dangerous when rotating parts pierce the outer casing, an event known as a non-trapped engine failure, which experts said appeared to have happened Saturday.
Pilots regularly practice how to deal with such an event and would have immediately turned off anything flammable in the engine, including fuel and hydraulic fluid, with a single switch, said John Cox, a retired pilot who leads an aviation safety consultancy, Safety Operating Systems.
With pole wires