As terrifying as Flight 383 was for Cardenas and the other 170 passengers and crew members, it could have been much worse.
The Miami-bound American Airlines flight caught fire before takeoff Friday afternoon — spewing huge billows of black smoke across O’Hare Airport — but passengers and crew were able to escape the Boeing 767 on chutes, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting. About 20 people were injured, with none of those injuries life-threatening.
American Airlines said in a statement that Flight 383 aborted takeoff at 2:35 p.m. because of engine-related mechanical problems. A tire blew out, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, which is investigating.
Passenger Gary Schiavone of Demotte, Ind., said there was a thud and then an explosion on the right side of the plane about 20 seconds after the plane began taxiing, before the plane had begun to lift off.
“First there was a clunk like the landing gear was going up, but a lot harder, then there was the explosion,” Schiavone said.
“What was I thinking: Flying. Just, I hate flying and the worst thing happened that you can imagine,” Schiavone said. “Twenty seconds later, we’d all be dead.”
Schiavone said he could see a “big, red ball of flames” on the left side of the plane, and a passenger with a window seat said he could see the glass cracking from the heat.
Passengers and crew got off the plane by sliding down two emergency chutes.
About 20 people were taken to area hospitals with injuries, mostly bruises and ankle sprains suffered when sliding down the inflatable ramp exiting the plane, Chicago Fire Department District Chief Juan Hernandez said.
The plane was moments before taking off when the fire happened.
The cabin began filling with smoke as passengers began getting off the plane. A few passengers tried to pull their luggage from the overhead compartments, the only hiccup in a largely orderly exit that took a little more than a minute, Schiavone said.
“This could have been absolutely devastating if it had happened later, if it had been further” along in takeoff,” Fire District Chief Timothy Sampey said at a new conference at O’Hare. The plane did, however, have “ample room” to stop.
Firefighters arrived at the burning plane about a minute after the flames were reported by the control tower, Sampey said. The fire was knocked out in seconds with a chemical foam and dry chemical, he said. Firefighters still were dealing with “hot spots” on the plane several hours after the flames had been extinguished.
The fire was the most “significant” at O’Hare in about eight years, Sampey said, and could have been far worse. A fully-loaded 767 carries about 43,000 pounds of fuel, he said.
Airport officials said four of the airport’s eight runways were open, enough to handle Friday evening traffic.
The plane was manufactured in 2003 and has a capacity for 218 passengers plus crew, records show.
— Chicago Sun-Times