It was a scary situation Tuesday afternoon when Delta airline’s Boeing 757-200 departing John Wayne Airport (SRA) for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) suddenly caught fire as it rolled down the runway for takeoff.
Jay Blackmon, a passenger aboard the plane, caught the incident on camera and said he had “never had that happen” while travelling:
“I’ve travelled a good bit, never had that happen. It shook me up a bit, I’m not going to lie… had it happened in the air, that would have been a whole other situation”
Smoke pours from the wing of a Delta jet as it tried to take off this afternoon from #johnwayneairport. Passenger shared this video. All are OK @cbsla #delta pic.twitter.com/H1DJ2BWr9P
— michele gile (@michelegiletv) January 10, 2023
No Injuries Were Reported
Although the cause of the fire is still being investigated, thankfully, no injuries were reported as all passengers aboard the fully booked Delta flight 447 were deplaned, and the aircraft was towed back to the gate.
https://twitter.com/IAmAnnaBauer/status/1612935185863168000
Delta Airlines released the following statement, explaining what happened and apologising to passengers for any inconvenience caused.
“Delta flight 447, set to operate service from John Wayne Airport (SNA) to Atlanta returned to the gate prior to takeoff following an apparent engine maintenance issue. The aircraft was met by local maintenance personnel for further evaluation. We apologize to our customers for this inconvenience and are working to get them to their final destinations as quickly as possible.”
Not the First Delta Aircraft Engine Issue
This is the second time Delta has reportedly had issues with its engines in two months. In November 2022, the airline had to make an emergency landing in Albuquerque, N.M. noticed smoke in the cabin.
The flight was flying from Atlanta to Los Angeles when the incident occurred. The airline later reported a performance issue with one of the aircraft’s two engines, but it was not made clear at the time if the problem was related to the smoke. Just like in Tuesday’s case, no injury was reported.
This is the second time the airline has reported engine malfunction issues in two months.
Do you think this is a cause for alarm? Let us know your thoughts in the comment.
