One person was injured after a plane in Denver aborted its takeoff and evacuated those on board using its emergency slide, authorities reported.
The Federal Aviation Administration said that a “possible landing gear incident” hit the American Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 and the slides were deployed amid signs of a fire underneath the plane.
“All customers and crew deplaned safely, and the aircraft was taken out of service to be inspected by our maintenance team. We thank our team members for their professionalism and apologize to our customers for their experience,” the airline said in a statement.
One person taken to the hospital with a minor injury.
“The plane started vibrating and shaking really bad,” 17-year-old passanger Shay Armistead told CNN. “We started tilting to the left side of the runway, and then we heard the sound of the wind from them lifting up the brakes of the plane and slamming on them really hard.”
Denver is the sixth busiest airport in the world and a vital hub in the United States.
The incident is the second involving a major airline in the US since Friday, when a Southwest flight took a sudden nosedive to avoid a midair collision shortly after takeoff in Burbank, California.