• By Nidhi Giri
  • Mon, 03 Feb 2025 08:19 AM (IST)
  • Source:JND

A United Airlines flight from Houston to New York caught fire during take-off on Sunday morning (local time) following which the plane had to be evacuated, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The incident comes just days after two deadly accidents in the US.

United Airlines Flight 1382 had to abort its takeoff from George Bush Intercontinental Airport due to a “reported engine issue" at around 8:35 am on Sunday, as per the FAA.

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Videos showed the wing of the United Airlines in flames. A flight attendant could be heard asking for passengers to stay in their seats. “No, it’s on fire!" one of the passengers can be heard saying. Passengers evacuated from the plane using stairs and the emergency slide, according to the Houston Fire Department.

The Houston Fire Department said no injuries were reported after it assisted with deboarding the plane. The aircraft involved was an Airbus A319, scheduled to fly to LaGuardia Airport in New York. There were 104 passengers and five crew members onboard.

The incident coeafter a small Learjet 55 aircraft crashed into a busy suburban area of Philadelphia, killing seven people, showering wreckage across a wide area and sparking fires that caused significant damage to homes and vehicles. Everyone aboard the flight died in the crash, along with one person on the ground, Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker said at a press conference on Saturday.

The crash follows that week’s collision of an American Airlines jet and a US Army Black Hawk helicopter over Washington, DC, which killed 67 in the deadliest airplane crash in the US since 2009.

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Officials said at a Saturday evening news briefing that investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board have determined the CRJ700 airplane was at 325 feet (91 meters), plus or minus 25 feet, at the time of impact. The new detail from a “black box" suggests that the Army helicopter was flying above 200 feet (61 metres), the maximum altitude for the route it was using.

(With Agency Inputs)