“Plane Was Nosediving”: United Airlines Boeing 737 Engine Erupts In Flames Over Texas

Dramatic footage shared on social media platform X shows the moment a United Airlines’ Boeing 737 from Houston to Fort Myers had to declare an emergency just minutes into its flight after flames erupted from one of its engines.  

🇺🇸 BOEING SUFFERS ANOTHER MID-AIR ENGINE FIRE

The United Airlines flight had to make an emergency landing in Texas minutes after take-off when flames began shooting from one of its engines.

This is the second mid-air engine fire to affect Boeing in the U.S this year, after a… https://t.co/HxaPH1RHeB pic.twitter.com/SKbHofwcZj

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) March 7, 2024

“I remember there was just this bright, flashing light that came through the window, and it sounded like a bomb went off, and then it was just a strobe of fire out the window,” David Gruninger, who was on his way back to Florida on a connecting flight, told local media outlet ABC 13.

According to the flight tracking website FlightAware, Flight 1118, with 167 passengers on board, took off from George Bush Intercontinental Airport at 6:40 pm local time. Just minutes after takeoff, the plane returned to the airport because of the engine issue. 

“The plane was nosediving, and the pilot was bringing the plane back up,” passenger Elliot Trexler said, adding, “The plane was also rocking back and forth a lot.”

“And then it just turned into chaos. People were screaming and crying and trying to figure out what was going on,” Gruninger said.

Radio transmission from the pilots described “our left engine, our number one engine,” experienced an issue while climbing through about 10,000 feet. 

The plane trip from hell lasted about 33 minutes after takeoff. Pilots landed safely around 7:31 local time—United credited passengers with $200 and a $15 meal voucher. 

This adds to the incompetency crisis plaguing Boeing jets following the door plug that ripped off an Alaska Flight 1282 Boeing 737 Max 9 plane earlier this year. The Federal Aviation Administration’s audit of the incident revealed that Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems have “failed to comply with manufacturing quality control requirements.” 

“The incompetency crisis continues as diversifying the flight industry moves full speed ahead,” one X user said.