SUMMARY
- Southwest Flight #307 witnesses flames from its wing shortly after takeoff.
- Plane lands safely; passengers moved to an alternative aircraft for their journey.
- A reminder of March’s incident where a bird strike filled a Southwest flight cabin with smoke.
On a seemingly regular flight to Cancun, passengers aboard a Southwest airplane got a fiery surprise. Shortly after taking off from William P. Hobby Airport in Houston, Texas, flames were spotted bursting from the plane's right wing.
As eyes turned to their phone cameras, capturing this dramatic scene for posterity, the flight, now identified as Southwest Flight #307, turned back due to the mechanical glitch.
Swiftly addressing the issue, the airline assured in a statement, "The aircraft landed safely and has since been benched for an in-depth inspection." Expressing gratitude for passengers' patience, they revealed that a replacement plane completed the journey to Cancun.
Aboard, passengers recounted their mid-air jitters. Coale Kalisek, seated next to the sputtering engine, recalled seeing fireballs and said, "I fly often enough to know that was anything but ordinary." Another passenger remembered a sudden boom, a whiff of fuel, and shared the palpable tension when the pilot tersely informed them of a return to Houston.
To some, this incident may evoke memories of a prior one in March. Then, a bird strike on a Southwest flight heading for Fort Lauderdale filled the cabin with smoke, leading to an emergency landing in Havana. All 147 passengers and six crew members were safely evacuated, reminding us of the unpredictable nature of air travel.
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