American Airlines passengers evacuated after plane catches fire during takeoff
According to the airline, a tire blew while flight 3023 was preparing for takeoff. The plane then rapidly decelerated on the runway, which resulted in "a minor isolated brake fire that was quickly extinguished by the Denver Fire Department."
Social media video shows passengers coming down the slides and running away from the Boeing 737 Max 8.
American Airlines said all 173 passengers and six crewmembers were evacuated safely, although the airline acknowledged that one passenger was transported to the hospital for further evaluation of a minor injury.
"All customers and crew deplaned safely, and the aircraft was taken out of service to be inspected by our maintenance team," the airline said in a statement. "We thank our team members for their professionalism and apologize to our customers for their experience."
Cruising Altitude: Another Boeing plane issue? Don't fall for the headlines.
According to American Airlines, all passengers were accommodated on another flight using a replacement aircraft later in the day.
The Federal Aviation Administration said it is investigating the incident.
Video of the evacuation also shows many passengers taking their belongings with them during the evacuation, which is not advisable.
"During an evacuation, seconds matter. The time you take to grab something from in front of you or from the overhead compartment, it's wasting time, and that time could result in a fatality," Anthony Brickhouse, director of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's Forensic Lab previously told USA TODAY. "It creates clutter, and it could damage the slide, which can make it inoperable … The most important thing is to get yourself out of that aircraft as quickly as possible."
Zach Wichter is a travel reporter and writes the Cruising Altitude column for USA TODAY. He is based in New York and you can reach him at zwichter@usatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Video shows American Airlines passengers evacuating jet in Denver
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NBC News
6 hours ago
- NBC News
NTSB hearings will focus on fatal Army helicopter-passenger jet crash. Here's what to know
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The FAA has since banned some helicopter routes to make sure helicopters and planes no longer share the same airspace, but there have still been additional near misses in recent months. Investigators have also said that the Army helicopter may have had inaccurate altitude readings, and the crew may not have heard key instructions from air traffic controllers. Meanwhile, federal officials have raised concerns over the nation's overtaxed and understaffed air traffic control system. During January's mid-air crash above Washington, one controller was handling both commercial airline and helicopter traffic at the busy airport. The hearings come at a time of heightened scrutiny of the safety of air travel amid the growing list of aircraft tragedies, mishaps and near misses in 2025. They include an Air India plane crash in June that killed at least 260 people as well as two unrelatedclose calls in the U.S. this month in which passenger jets took evasive action to avoid military planes. Here's a look at the crash, the investigation so far and other notable aircraft incidents this year. What happened? American Airlines Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kansas, was carrying 60 passengers and four crew members as it approached to land on a clear night at Ronald Reagan National Airport. Nearby, the Army Black Hawk, with three soldiers on board, was practicing emergency evacuation routes that would be used to ferry out key government officials in an emergency. Investigators have said the helicopter crew was wearing night-vision goggles that would have limited their peripheral vision. A few minutes before the twin-engine jet was to land, air traffic controllers asked if it could use a shorter runway. The pilots agreed, and flight-tracking sites show the plane turned to adjust its approach. The FAA has since permanently banned that particular helicopter route when planes are using that runway. Shortly before the collision, a controller got an alert saying the plane and Black Hawk were converging and asked the helicopter if it had the jet in sight. The military pilot said yes and asked for "visual separation" with the jet for a second time, allowing it to fly closer than if the pilots couldn't see the plane. Controllers approved the request roughly 20 seconds before the collision. The NTSB has said there were 85 dangerous close calls between planes and helicopters near Reagan National in the three years before the crash, and collision alarms had been ordering pilots to take evasive action at least once a month since 2011. The investigation NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy told reporters in February that the Black Hawk's cockpit recorder suggested an incomplete radio transmission may have left the crew unable to hear air traffic control tell them, just before the crash, to move behind the jet. She said the crew was unable to hear the words "pass behind the" because its microphone key was pressed. The radio altitude of the helicopter was 278 feet at the time, which would put it above its 200-foot limit for that location. Cockpit conversations a few minutes before the crash indicate that the crew may not have had accurate altitude readings, with the helicopter's pilot calling out that they were at 300 feet but the instructor pilot saying 400 feet, Homendy said. That generation of Black Hawks typically has two types of altimeters: one relying on barometric pressure and the other on radio frequency signals bounced off the ground. Helicopter pilots typically rely on barometric readings while flying, but the helicopter's black box captures its radio altitude. Almost immediately after the crash, President Donald Trump faulted the helicopter for flying too high. He also blamed federal diversity and inclusion efforts, particularly regarding air traffic controllers. When pressed by reporters, the president could not back up those claims. A few days later, he blamed an "obsolete" air traffic control system. January's crash prompted the Federal Aviation Administration in March to announce that helicopters would be permanently restricted from flying on the same route where the collision occurred. However, concerns over Washington's airspace have persisted. On May 1, military air traffic controllers lost contact with an Army helicopter for about 20 seconds as it neared the Pentagon on a flight that caused two commercial jets to abort their landings. After that incident, the Army paused all flights into and out of the Pentagon as it works with the FAA to address safety issues. The victims The Army identified the Black Hawk crew as Capt. Rebecca M. Lobach, 28, of Durham, North Carolina; Staff Sgt. Ryan Austin O'Hara, 28, of Lilburn, Georgia; and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, 39, of Great Mills, Maryland. 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Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Passengers Evacuated After Smoke Spotted in the Landing Gear of Turkish Airlines Plane
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Fast Company
8 hours ago
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How a growing demand for drought-tolerant, local plants is changing the landscaping industry
As the Western U.S. faces more damaging droughts, local governments—as well as an increasing number of homeowners—have been successfully promoting landscaping practices that eschew the stereotypical water-hungry grass lawn for more resilient choices. The average U.S. family uses roughly 50 gallons of water per day for outdoor plants and lawns, per statistics from the Environmental Protection Agency; a third of residential water use, or about 9 billion gallons per day, goes toward lawns, plants, and irrigation. Whether it's called native planting, xeriscaping, or drought-tolerant landscaping, the push to use more local plants has gained significant momentum. But many landscape architects are finding that the plant industry is straining to keep up. 'We're trying to create designs with plants that use less water, have deeper root systems, and are more resilient,' said Tyler Krob, a senior associate and landscape architect at Denver-based Superbloom. 'And the reality is, the nursery market just isn't capable of supplying those.' The growth in demand for native plants has skyrocketed in recent years, as developers and landscapers have pushed to reduce water usage and promote local flora and fauna. But despite this significant growth in demand, supply remains lacking, and the growers who do specialize in these plants aren't necessarily nearby; it's becoming harder and harder to find native plants locally. Putting pressure on the plant industry It's causing many landscape architects to alter projects and even rethink the supply chain for flowers, bushes, and shrubbery for future projects. It's also putting pressure on the massive plant and nursery industry, a $13.8 billion-a-year sector of the economy that employs as many people as the clothing retail sector. It's a very concentrated and top-heavy industry consisting of a number of massive players making significant sales with popular, non-native species, along with a number of smaller, regional nurseries that face economic pressures such as high land prices and aging ownership. According to Garden Center's 2024 state of the industry report, only 42% of sellers focus on native plant species. Superbloom, which works primarily in cities throughout the West, said the supply of local native plants has become such a challenge that it's forced to order plants from out-of-state nurseries and work directly with local nurseries to grow its own native species for its projects. Diane Lipovsky, cofounder and principal, said the shortage is forcing the company to swap out certain species and can even delay projects. Los Angeles-based landscape architecture firm Terremoto opened its own plant store to help expand the supply of local, native plants. 'I started that shop because I believed that there should be independently owned, mostly native plant shops sprinkled through all cities and communities, so that they're easy, affordable, and accessible,' said Terremoto principal/owner David Godshall. Superbloom has even persuaded clients to agree to grow their own plants at the onset of a large real estate project to avoid shortages later on. For the firm's current work on city and county buildings in Denver, for instance, the city has agreed to grow native plants in its own greenhouse to avoid having to pay to import plants from nurseries in the Midwest. Much of this push comes from good faith efforts to cut water usage and conserve natural resources, as well as emerging legislation to cut down water usage. The Colorado Legislature already passed SB 24-005, a bill that prohibits local entities from using non-native plant species on commercial, institutional, industrial, and common-interest community properties, as well as public spaces and state facility projects. It goes into effect January 1, 2026, and will likely exacerbate the shortage. States including Illinois and Delaware have also passed legislation encouraging the use of native plants, and in 2022 the federal Native Plant Species Pilot Program Act, which establishes native planting pilots for federal land management, was signed into law. Superbloom's Krob and Lipovsky said the real budget challenge in relation to using native plants is that designers often face delays and potential design compromises via substitution requests. Due to lack of availability, sourcing native or water-wise species might require a custom contract to grow, which can push a project out by a full season or more. That's just not feasible for many public or developer-led timelines. Where do we get more native plants? There are significant challenges to ramping up native plant production, said Deryn Davidson, a sustainable landscape specialist at Colorado State University. Native plants haven't been specially bred to grow in standard nursery-style containers, making it hard for larger contract growers to provide them to large commercial nurseries. You can't ask a manufacturer to crank out more products; plants need a lot of time and planning to grow. Lipovsky said she's seeing the industry gear up to expand, but it's still far behind what's needed. The pressure coming from government land managers and others seeking to restore natural habitats has caused a native seed shortage across the country. A 2023 report from the Committee on an Assessment of Native Seeds and Capacities found the industry was small and uncertain, with demand fluctuating wildly, while a 2022 report from the National Academy of Sciences found that nationally the supply of native plant material was 'severely insufficient.' Years with significant wildfire damage, for instance, can put sudden demands on dwindling seed stocks. In addition, many landscapers aren't as familiar with the intricacies of watering and caring for native plants, making it crucial to educate more workers on maintenance. And there's also consumer perception, which has been altered by the ready-to-grow nature of plants found at stores like Home Depot. 'These native plants can be slower to shine, and people will see these plants, which can take a year to really grow, and it's not what they're used to,' Davidson said. 'There's a bit of managing expectations that needs to take place.' Superbloom has found that specific species such as prairie dropseed, little bluestem, and pasqueflower have been particularly challenging to find on the current market. Krob found that even buying blue grama, Colorado's state grass, for use in his own front yard meant importing from a nursery in Illinois or Oregon. There are other key market forces at play. Landscaping, especially on a large, commercial scale, is intimately tied to the construction and real estate development industries, which continue to see declining new business. The American Institute of Architects Billings Index remains in negative territory after years of slow and even negative business growth. Despite those issues, this supply-and-demand imbalance is in many ways a good problem to have, and a sign that the trend toward native plants that support pollinators and cut down on water usage are very much taking root. And in a market as volatile as construction, greater availability of diverse, drought-tolerant native species from local nurseries would benefit the entire industry, especially when factoring in increasing pressures around water use. It would help reduce costs, improve access, and support compliance with emerging policies and legislation. 'Demand is probably just going to continue to go up,' said Davidson. 'It's industry growing pains, but it's exciting that we're at this point.' The early-rate deadline for Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies Awards is Friday, September 5, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply today.
