Flight Makes Emergency Landing At DFW Airport
FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - An American Airlines flight departing from DFW International Airport for Sao Paulo, Brazil on Sunday night was forced to make an emergency landing just 14 minutes after takeoff because of an issue with the right engine, an airline spokesman said.
The flight left the airport around 8:00 p.m. Sunday night, and then started to have troubles almost immediately after leaving the ground.
The Boeing 777-300 plane began dumping fuel on its way back to the airport, said airline spokesman Tim Smith, adding that it was too soon to confirm the exact engine problem experienced on Flight 963.
The fuel evaporated before it hit the ground, but did not lighten the plane enough. The jet blew several tires upon landing. Rescue crews assembled around the plane while work crews and buses arrived, Smith said. The tires had to be replaced before the plane could be towed off of the emergency runway.
The Federal Aviation Administration said that one of the plane's engines and landing gear had caught fire during the incident, but Smith later confirmed that to be false. A warning sensor indicating a possible fire on the plane, but there was no actual fire found.
CBS 11 News viewers Heather and Steven Paine captured video of the plane as it made the emergency landing, and said that they could smell fuel as the plane passed by in the air.
The 246 passengers and 14 crew members were bused back to the terminal and housed in area hotels until new flight arrangements could be made for Monday morning. Nobody was injured and there were no additional flight delays due to this emergency incident.
