A charted military flight out of Hickam Air Force Base in Honolulu, Hawaii, was forced to turn around and make an emergency landing shortly after take-off due to an engine failure. Passengers in the cabin had just settled in for the nearly eight-hour overnight flight to Guam when there was a muffled explosion, and a fireball lit up the pitch-black cabin. One of the passengers started recording the engine as it shot out flames that lit up the night sky.
Residents said they could hear the explosion from the ground.
"It was quite loud. I'm pretty sure I heard my neighbors down below talking about it. You can hear a lot of people, it was pretty intense for a while there," Kevin Tynan told KHON.
Residents were concerned that the plane might explode over the city.
"It was actually scary to watch because you're scared. Is this plane going to explode? Is it going to go down?" Rick Bartalini told the station.
One person on the ground managed to record the Atlas Air Boeing 767 as flames started shooting from the engine.
"Plane on fire over the Daniel K. Inouye Airport in Honolulu. We heard what sounded like an explosion, and it started spitting out flames from what looked like the engine. Couldn't see what airline but definitely a passenger plane," they wrote on Twitter.
Officials said the plane landed safely at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport and that none of the 212 passengers on board were injured. Investigators are trying to determine what caused the engine failure.
"An Atlas Air passenger flight landed safely at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu following a mechanical issue with one engine. At Atlas, safety is always our top priority, and we will be conducting a thorough inspection to determine the cause," Atlas Air said in a statement.
Photo: Getty Images