A blazing FedEx plane engine has been added to the string of plane incidents in the past few months. The frequent accidents involving planes, mainly passenger planes, have significantly raised concerns about air safety.
In the latest incident, a bird struck a courier plane, causing its engine to burst into flames on Saturday morning. The incident happened shortly after the FedEx plane departed the runway of Newark Airport and lifted in the sky around.
The plane landed with the burning engine around 8:07 a.m., which was nine minutes after taking off, according to the New York Post, citing reports from the flight data. Footage of the plane’s blazing engine has been circulating the internet. The Boeing 767-3S2F had to make an emergency landing, which can be seen in footage of it flying back to the runway with its right engine spewing flames.
When the plane landed on the tarmac, it was aided by two Port Authority fire trucks from the Port Authority Police Department’s Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighter Unit (ARFF) and the burning engine was extinguished, according to the New York Post.
An investigation has been launched by the National Transportation Safety Board, and it was later reported by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and FedEx that the engine had burst into flames due to a bird strike.
A representative spoke to the New York Post, informing the media, “FedEx Flight 3609 from Newark to Indianapolis experienced a bird strike during takeoff. Our crew declared an emergency and returned safely to Newark. We are thankful for the quick actions of our crew and first responders.”
The extent of the damages that the plane sustained is unclear, and no one was injured in the accident. However, Flight Aware shared that the plane was cleared to go to Indiana at 9:30 a.m.
Amid the string of catastrophic plane incidents, a Southwest flight prevented a horrific collision when it successfully avoided a private jet on the runway at Chicago Midway Airport. Twenty-four hours before the incident, a Delta Air Lines flight that departed an airport in Atlanta to go to South Carolina had to make an emergency landing in Atlanta when the plane’s cabin was filled with “haze” and smoke.
