United Airlines passengers had a shock on landing in Denver on Tuesday as cabin crew immediately shouted at them to leave their bags and evacuate the plane.
The flight from Kansas City, Missouri to Denver, Colorado had touched down at 2.30pm when a fire was detected onboard the aircraft, and crew took the decision to evacuate.
Passenger Adrian Hartwell posted a dramatic video to Twitter showing multiple flight attendants shouting “Come this way, come this way!” and “Leave all bags” as passengers clamour to get down the aisle and off the plane. Both adults and children can be heard crying and panicking.
Passengers later said that smoke could be seen pouring from the underside of the aircraft.
United Airlines confirmed the incident in a statement, saying: “United flight 1658 from Kansas City landed normally in Denver and proceeded to the gate.
“Due to smoke indicating that brakes may have overheated, some customers exited the plane using the slides while others deplaned using the jet bridge.”
They said 157 passengers and four crew were all able to evacuate safely.
Mr Hartwell told CNN: “We were landing, and the pilot came on the intercom saying everyone needs to get off of the plane. The flight attendants then rushed everyone off of the plane.”
He added that the evacuation took about a minute and a half.
“I was kind of panicked but also I was glad we were on the ground already,” added Mr Hartwell.
After multiple Twitter followers accused the passenger who filmed the footage of waiting to retrieve his bag before evacuating, he denied it, saying: “I wasn’t grabbing my bag. I was grabbing my inhaler out of it.”
Commercial aircraft are equipped with very strong brakes, which must withstand the energy transfer of a landing at speed.
In rare circumstances, the kinetic energy used in landing can be transferred into heat energy, causing the metal of the brakes to overheat.
This risk of brakes overheating is usually higher when an aircraft lands at a higher speed than is typical, and must be slowed down quickly by the pilot.
In January an Air France plane was forced to turn around and make an emergency landing in Paris after an engine caught fire shortly after take-off.
Passengers reported seeing two-metre flames shoot out of the aircraft and hearing “loud firecracker noises”.
