The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has confirmed that it has opened an accident investigation after a Frontier Airlines airplane caught fire after it landed at Las Vegas Harry Reid International Airport on Saturday afternoon.
A dramatic eyewitness video taken by a passenger at the airport shows flames shooting out of Frontier Airlines flight 1326’s main right landing gear as it braked to a halt on runway 26L at Las Vegas airport.
The nine-year-old Airbus A321 had just completed a short 50-minute flight from San Diego. Although the exact circumstances of the accident are still unknown, it appears that the airport fire department was already aware of a potential issue with the aircraft.
As the plane came to a halt on the runway and smoke started billowing from the landing gear, fire trucks and other emergency vehicles rushed to the scene and doused the airplane with water.
Frontier Airlines has confirmed that 190 passengers and seven crew members were evacuated from the aircraft via airstairs. There were no reported injuries.
On Sunday, it remained unclear what the caused the flames and smoke but the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reported that the plane had made an emergency landing at Harry Reid Airport after the pilots had reported “smoke in the cockpit.”
A statement from the agency continued: “Fire & Rescue extinguished a fire on the right engine. Passengers exited the plane using the stairs and were bused to the terminal.”
“The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate.”
There is suspicion that the fire started while the aircraft was still in the air and that the pilots detected the smell of smoke as it was on final approach for landing. The crew declared a Mayday, which meant that the airport fire service was ready and waiting for the plane to land.
In January, the same aircraft was involved in an emergency when the pilots were alerted to a potential engine fire indication. Flight 4635, with 134 passengers and crew onboard, had just taken off from Denver bound for Phoenix when a fire warning for the right-hand engine was activated.
The airplane made an emergency return to Denver, where it was checked over by fire and rescue services. No evidence of a fire was detected.
