An American Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 experienced a landing gear malfunction on 26/7 as it was accelerating for takeoff from Denver to Miami, according to passenger Mark Tsurkis.
"During acceleration, just as the plane was about to lift off, we heard a loud bang, and I thought, 'This isn't right,'", he recounted.
Tsurkis believes a tire blew out and damaged the landing gear, "because as the plane decelerated, we saw a wheel roll past on the left side of the aircraft".
American Airlines later confirmed the aircraft experienced a maintenance issue related to a tire and was taken out of service for inspection. The combination of the tire failure and the braking process caused a fire.
"It was certainly a scary moment, but we were fortunate that we hadn't taken off yet. I'm guessing it happened maybe 5-10 seconds before we would have been airborne," Tsurkis added.
According to Tsurkis, the pilot immediately decelerated and brought the plane to a stop. About a minute later, other passengers saw smoke, and the evacuation began.
Video shared on Tsurkis's Instagram shows passengers sliding down emergency chutes as smoke billows from the rear of the Boeing 737 MAX 8. Some attempted to carry luggage, causing them to fall.
This incident occurred one day after passengers on a Southwest Airlines flight experienced a near-miss. A privately owned Hawker Hunter fighter jet crossed in front of the Boeing 737 at a distance of less than 3 km, forcing it to descend rapidly from approximately 4,300 m to about 4,150 m to avoid a collision.
Vu Hoang (CNN, Fox News, CBS News)
