Frontier Airlines plane lands while on fire at Las Vegas airport
A Frontier Airlines plane landed while on fire Saturday at Las Vegas’ airport.
Flight 1326 from San Diego to Vegas was approaching Harry Reid International Airport when the crew smelled smoke and declared an emergency, according to Frontier.
The plane sped down the runway with flames and smoke shooting out from underneath it, startling videos posted on social media show.
However, all 190 passengers and seven crew members escaped without injury. Everyone on board was evacuated by stairs on the tarmac and bused to the terminal, Frontier said in a statement. The county fire department responded immediately and doused the flames.
What caused the plane to catch fire remains under investigation. The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are both probing the incident.
The plane landed around 4:15 p.m. local time, causing authorities to issue a ground stop at the busy airport until nearly 7 p.m., NBC News reported.
“Frontier Flight 1326 experienced a hard landing,” an airport spokesperson told CBS News.
The aircraft that caught fire was an Airbus A321, according to flight tracking data from FlightAware. Airbus planes have largely remained out of the spotlight in recent years while Boeing aircraft have experienced numerous troubles.
However, last month Cathay Pacific grounded its entire fleet of Airbus 350s after an engine part failed and the rest of the planes were inspected.
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