A United Airlines plane was forced to make an emergency landing after a rabbit got sucked into its engine.
Video shows a fireball of flames erupting from an engine on Flight 2325 shortly after it took off from Denver Airport on Sunday night.
Passengers on the Edmonton, Canada-bound flight recalled hearing a ‘loud bang’ and feeling ‘significant vibration’ just after takeoff, but the aircraft continued to climb.
‘Every few moments there was a backfire coming from the engine, a giant fireball behind it,’ passenger Scott Wolff told ABC’s Good Morning America. ‘Everyone in the plane then started to panic.’
The Boeing 737 safely landed back at Denver Airport around 8.05pm local time.
Audio records from the flight deck revealed that after landing, the crew requested the plane to be inspected for an engine fire. They were told that a rabbit had been sucked into the engine.
‘Rabbit through the number two, that’ll do it,’ the pilot said.
The 153 passengers and six crew members then continued to Edmonton on a new plane, United told ABC in a statement. The Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) is investigating the incident.
United Airlines Flight 2325 was forced to make an emergency return to Denver Airport after a rabbit got sucked into its engine
Video shows a fireball of flames erupting from an engine on Flight 2325 shortly after it took off from Denver Airport on Sunday night
Flight UA 2325 took off from Denver Airport at 7.08pm on Sunday. The plane diverted back to Colorado’s capital city after the a fire erupted in one of the engines. The aircraft safely landed back in Denver less than an hour later
Flight UA 2325 took off from Denver Airport at 7.08pm on Sunday, according to data recorded by tracking service FlightAware.
The plane diverted back to Colorado’s capital city after the a fire erupted in one of the engines. The aircraft safely landed back in Denver less than an hour later.
Wyatt McCurry witnessed the incident from the ground at Denver Airport, alleging that his ‘stomach dropped’ as he saw the fireball erupting in the sky.
‘I just thought, “I’m going to see a plane go down”,’ he recalled.
United told that the plane ‘returned safely to Denver to address a possible wildlife strike. The aircraft returned to the gate, and we lined up a new aircraft to get our customers on their way’.
The FAA also issued a statement to , saying: ‘United Airlines Flight 2325 returned safely to Denver International Airport around 8.05pm local time on Sunday, April 13, after the crew reported striking an animal while departing.
‘The Boeing 737-800 was headed to Edmonton International Airport in Canada. The FAA will investigate.’
Wildlife strikes are quite common, according to the FAA, which recorded more than 20,000 incidents last year in the US alone.
However, rabbit strikes appear to be more rare, with the FAA database only reported four nationwide, including one in Denver.
Most animal strikes reported to the agency involved birds.