"Heart in mouth moment."

Fire in the Hole

In a terrifying video, a Boeing 777 jet appeared to catch fire during takeoff in yet another freaky safety incident involving the aerospace giant.

As Fox Business reports, the Paris-bound jet had 389 passengers and 13 crew members on board when its engines started coughing flames, forcing to make an emergency landing back at Toronto's Pearson Airport shortly thereafter.

"Holy crap, it's got an engine fire!" exclaims the unnamed bystander who shot the video, which has since gone viral on X-formerly-Twitter. "Holy shit!"

But apparently, that impression wasn't exactly right.

In a statement circulated by the Toronto Star, Air Canada said that the engine itself had not caught on fire, but that the blaze had occurred due to an issue with the plane's compressor stall. It does not appear that anyone was hurt during the incident.

"Video posted to the internet of the incident shows the engine at the point of compressor stall, which can happen with a turbine engine when [its] aerodynamics are affected," the statement reads. "This can be caused by various factors, but the result is the flow of air through the engine is disrupted causing fuel to ignite further down the engine, which is why flames are visible in the video. It is not the engine itself on fire."

Bad News Air

All the same, folks on social media expressed perturbation over the video.

"Heart in mouth moment," one X user wrote. "Wouldn't blame the passengers for not wanting to fly after that plane returned safely..."

"Another fkn Boeing," remarked a second user. "How many has that been this year?! Insanity."

Indeed, this couldn't have happened at a worse time for Boeing, which has been under intense scrutiny since a door plug blew off one of its jets mid-flight in January. Along with these sorts of occurrences gaining more and more attention in the media, the company has also been under fire from whistleblowers who allege corner-cutting at its factories — two of whom have died under unusual circumstances since March.

While there's certainly been something of a confirmation bias effect with the publication of Boeing safety and mechanical failures lately, many of them, including this one, drive home just how fraught plane travel can be.

More on Boeing: Boeing Starliner Stuck on Space Station as More Leaks Discovered


Share This Article