A moment of horror survived passengers and crew of Boeing 737 MAX 8 line American Airlines. On Saturday afternoon, just before taking off from Denver Airport, the plane had to be evacuated after a fire near the chassis.
Emergency evacuation of passengers what happened?
Saturday, July 26, 2025, American Airlines flight 3023 was scheduled to take off from Denver to Miami. A rear left chassis failure occurred during the runway. Out of the tire, fire and thick smoke burst, as both passengers and ground workers saw.
Rapid reaction of crew and service
The crew immediately interrupted the launch and launched the evacuation procedure.
- Emergency slides opened.
- 173 passengers and 6 crew members left the machine.
- The fire department extinguished the fire in a few minutes.
- Most people left unharmed – only one person went to the hospital with minor injuries.
What did the evacuation look like?
Some reported moments of panic – some people took their luggage, others ran to the airport plate, escaping from the flames. There's footage of travelers sliding down the escape slides and running away from the puffing smoke..
Causes and effects – what do we know?
The cause of the fire is Technical defect of rear tyre chassis. The plane didn't get away from the ground, most likely saved life on board. After the situation had been contained, the airport had to halt the traffic briefly and almost 90 other flights were delayed.
