British Airways Plane Catches Fire In Las Vegas

Smoke billows out from a plane that caught fire at McCarren global Airport.

Scott Hamilton, an aviation consultant with the Washington-based Leeham Co., said the Boeing 777 traditionally has a good safety record, though the model has been linked to a few infamous aircraft incidents.

A British Airways flight bound for Gatwick has burst into flames on the runway in Las Vegas.

An audio recording, which appears to be of the conversation between the pilot and air traffic control, shows how the emergency was dealt with.

Passenger Letha Dunn recalled a “tremendous explosion from behind”. There was panic but then the chute was deployed and down I went.

Inside McCarran worldwide Airport, Reggie Bugmuncher was waiting at a gate when she heard people exclaiming, “Oh, my god”.

He also said people shouldn’t criticize passengers who took their carry-on luggage with them during the evacuation. “We have to get off this plane!”

“Everything was fine before takeoff, other than we just seemed to be on the runway for longer than usual”, a passenger from Newcastle told The Mirror.

“Based on the engine fleet’s service history, we are not aware of any operational issues that would hazard the continued safe flight of aircraft powered by these engines”, it said.

All of the passengers had nothing but praise for the crew of the aircraft for their quick response to the situation and speedy and safe evacuation of all of the people on board.

Fourteen people were admitted to Sunrise Hospital, officials said.

Jon Klassen, the deputy fire chief at Clark County, Nevada, which includes Las Vegas airport, said the cause of the fire on the 275-seat aircraft was unknown.

Yahoo! News details that the call from the tower to emergency personnel came at 4:13 p.m., and the fire was extinguished by 4:18.

“They were brilliant”, he said.

Thirty seconds later, he sent a mayday reporting a fire, shortly before evacuating passengers on to the runway.

Passengers were taken to area hotels.

The Dunks said they planned to board the next flight to London and enjoy the rest of their vacation.

Boeing Tuesday offered technical assistance to the NTSB.

General Electric said the plane was powered by two of its GE90 engines. Smoke poured in as all of the 157 passengers and 13 crewmembers evacuated the plane via inflatable slides, while about 50 firefighters quickly put out the flames.