‘Please remain seated’: Terrible moment Spirit Airlines plane bursts into flames on landing in Atlanta as brakes overheat and flyers scream in terror as cabin crew tell them to remain calm
- Flight 383 flew from Tampa, Fla. to Atlanta, Georgia on Sunday
- According to Harsfield-Jackson officials, the plane’s brake caught fire on landing
- Firefighters extinguished the fire and the plane safely disembarked at one of the airport’s gates
- Spirit said one of the plane’s rear brakes overheated, but no one was hurt
- Footage from inside the plane shows worried passengers rising from their seats and looking out through portholes, noting continuous smoke in the air
- The aircraft is being temporarily withdrawn from commercial service for review
Frightened passengers aboard a Spirit Airlines flight out of Tampa are safe after one of the plane’s brakes overheated and briefly caught fire while landing in Atlanta on Sunday, causing chaos on board, video shared on social media shows.
The brakes in the landing gear of Spirit Airlines Flight 383 from Tampa caught fire upon landing, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport officials wrote in a tweet about the incident.
The Atlanta Fire Department put out the fire and the plane was towed to the gate for panicked passengers to disembark, airport officials said.
Spirit Airlines said one of the plane’s brakes overheated.
The airline publicly announced that no passengers were injured and no deaths were reported.
Spirit Airlines Flight 383 from Tampa, Fla. to Atlanta, Georgia caught fire while landing at Hartfield-Jackson Airport on Sunday, with smoke billowing from underneath the plane. One of the plane’s breaking wheels caught fire
Video posted to social media showed smoke under the plane at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
“The plane was towed to the gate, where the guests safely departed without injury. Thank you to Atlanta First Responders for hitting the plane immediately,” the airline said in a statement.
“The aircraft will be temporarily taken out of service for maintenance,” he added.
Footage from inside the plane shows worried passengers rising from their seats to look out through portholes and watch as smoke billows continuously from beneath the plane.
Stewards are then heard urging passengers to remain calm and leave the aisle clear in the event of an evacuation.
“Please remain seated,” a Spirit Airlines flight attendant tells passengers over the plane’s PA system.
Passengers on board were recorded rising from the edges of their seats and watching the smoke through the plane’s portholes, before flight attendants asked them to clear the aisle and “please remain seated.”
The plane successfully made it to one of Atlanta Airport’s gates and disembarked passengers with no reports of death or injury
Scottie Nelms, a passenger on the plane, related it FOX 5 that the flight was uneventful until after landing and the passengers heard a strange noise coming from the left side of the plane.
Nobody knew what it was until we pulled up in the middle of the runway,” Nelms told FOX 5.
“We saw a flame coming out of the engine and the people and I started freaking out.”
Tires on planes are said to be changed every 120 to 400 landings, according to the German airline Hydro Aero.
Aircraft tires are integrally built to withstand a wide range of temperatures, ranging from minus 60 degrees Celsius (140F) at an altitude of 10,000 meters (32808 feet) to the boiling heat of landing in some of the hottest regions on earth.
And while the likelihood of an airplane catching fire is small, major fires on airplanes are not uncommon. According to Consumer Reports, on average, US plane fires occur every 10 or 11 days.
