One of the engines of a Boeing 737 burst into flames on Sunday after the plane hit a flock of geese. The incident occurred shortly after takeoff from Columbus, Ohio, and forced American Airlines Flight 1958 to return to the airport.
American Airlines 737 returns to Columbus Airport after striking a number of geese on departure. AA1958 to Phoenix landed back safely 25 minutes after takeoff. pic.twitter.com/ws3wi3Cl9D
— Breaking Aviation News & Videos (@aviationbrk) April 23, 2023
Several videos are circulating on social networks and show what happened from the passengers' point of view. In one of them you can see how the flames come out from the turbine. Several other Internet users also recorded the images from the ground.
The plane's pilots then initiated a maneuver to return to Columbus and land as soon as possible before the turbine situation could worsen. They managed to land and the incident ended without injuries.
#AA1958: post landing images are showing traces of bird impacts on the #2 engine cowling and right wing leading edge. @GreaceMonkey98 pic.twitter.com/SVsGZjvkta
— JACDEC (@JacdecNew) April 23, 2023
Once the plane was on the ground, it was possible to see the remains of the impact with the geese on its right wing and turbine, while the Boeing is being inspected by firefighters. This is the second such incident in less than a week. Last Thursday, a similar incident occured in Charlotte, North Carolina.
