A US Delta passenger jet caught fire on the tarmac at Orlando International Airport on Monday and passengers had to evacuate via the emergency exit slides, the Federal Aviation Authority said Monday.
Delta Air Lines Flight 1213, bound for Atlanta, was pushing back from the gate for departure at around 11:15 a.m. local time on Monday when an engine caught fire, the FAA said in a statement. There were no initial reports of injuries from the incident.
Passenger Kyle Becker, who was sitting in row 35, said he opened the window as soon as he heard people yell “fire!”
“There was a fire on the engine,” Becker told CBS News senior transportation correspondent Kris Van Cleave. “[It] was a little scary…just never had happened to me before. Start thinking, like, OK, what are the next steps. Trying to remain calm.”
Delta said crew members evacuated the cabin when flames were seen in the tailpipe of one of the plane’s two main engines and fire crews quickly responded. According to Delta, the plane, an Airbus 330, had 282 passengers, 10 flight attendants and two pilots on board.
“We appreciate our customers’ cooperation and apologize for the experience,” the airline said in a statement. “Nothing is more important than safety and Delta teams will work to get our customers to their final destinations as soon as possible.”
The FAA said it will investigate the incident and Delta said maintenance teams will examine the aircraft.
CBS News transportation and safety expert Robert Sumwalt, the former chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, said it’s important to act fast whenever there’s a fire reported on an airplane.
“Certainly, if you’ve got fire on the airplane and you have the opportunity to do so, get those passengers off the airplane and get them off quickly,” Sumwalt said.
In this case, Sumwalt said it looks like fuel got into the tailpipe and then it was ignited.
“The Airbus has an automatic start sequence, and ideally, the ignition occurs before the fuel is poured into it. It looks like somehow fuel got into the tailpipe and then it was ignited. It’s supposed to happen the other way around,” Sumwalt explained.
The engine fire marks the latest aviation scare involving the airline in recent months. In February, 21 people were injured after a Delta plane flipped upside down while landing amid wintry conditions at Toronto Pearson International Airport. All of the injured passengers were later released from the hospital.
In January, several people were injured after a Delta flight aborted its takeoff at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, forcing about 200 passengers to evacuate the plane through emergency slides.
