Boeing flight evacuation in Denver after tyres blow out on runway

Passengers were forced to evacuate from a Boeing flight after the plane’s tyres blew out on the runway.

American Airlines Flight 3023 was preparing to leave Denver International Airport for Miami yesterday when it “experienced a mechanical issue” while accelerating before take-off, the airline said.

The incident raises further questions over Boeing’s safety record after several major failures.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said in a statement today that the crew onboard the Boeing 737 Max 8 plane “reported a possible landing gear incident during departure” about 2.45pm on Saturday local time (8.45am yesterday NZT).

All 173 passengers and six crew “de-planed safely” but one passenger received a minor injury and was taken to a hospital for evaluation, the airline said.

Video shows passengers using the evacuation slide to leave the plane as smoke billows from the fuselage, some carrying small children. Several people can be seen falling on to the tarmac as they land.

Mark Tsurkis, 50, a passenger aboard the flight, told ABC News he heard “a loud boom” as the plane was about to take off.

“I said, ‘That’s not good’,” Tsurkis said, at which point the plane began to slow down, he said, and passengers could see one of the wheels pass by.

“When the plane stopped about 30 seconds to a minute later, somebody said, ‘Smoke, fire’. And then a lot of people, of course, started panicking,” Tsurkis said.

Shay Armistead, a 17-year-old passenger who was headed to Santiago, Chile, for a ski trip told CNN yesterday’s ordeal was “kind of traumatising”.

As the plane moved down the runway, passengers heard a loud bang and believed the tyre popped, Armistead said.

“The plane started vibrating and shaking really bad. We started tilting to the left side of the runway, and then we heard the sound of the wind from them lifting up the brakes of the plane and slamming on them really hard.”

The airline said: “We thank our team members for their professionalism and apologise to our customers for their experience.”

The FAA said it was investigating the incident.

Boeing has been heavily criticised in recent years over a string of failures. In June the National Transportation Safety Board blasted Boeing’s safety culture and its failure to stop a cabin panel getting sucked out mid-air during a flight in January 2024.

The board said the company failed to install four key bolts in a new Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 during production.

The Denver evacuation also comes after concerns over aviation safety in the United States after a string of recent accidents and near misses.

On Saturday a Southwest Airlines flight plunged mid-air to avoid colliding with another aircraft while en route to Las Vegas, injuring two flight attendants.

In January, a mid-air collision between a commercial aircraft approaching Ronald Reagan Airport near downtown Washington and a military helicopter killed 67 people.

In May, US President Donald Trump’s administration announced plans to overhaul its “antiquated” air traffic control system, which suffers from a shortage of controllers in FAA-managed towers.

The Government has laid off hundreds of FAA employees as part of its plan to slash the federal workforce.