DENVER — After a landing gear malfunction triggered smoke and fire aboard American Airlines Flight 3023 in Denver, all 173 passengers evacuated safely, but not without controversy.
An American Airlines safety video online clearly instructs passengers to leave their carry-on bags behind during an evacuation. Still, that message was apparently lost on some travelers aboard the Miami-bound flight Saturday afternoon.
Takeoff was aborted after the crew reported a possible incident with the landing gear, which led to a fire and smoke filling the cabin.
Video shot by passengers during the evacuation showed several passengers sliding down the emergency inflatable slides with their bags in hand. One person fell while carrying luggage in one hand and a child in the other.
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'We heard a loud boom': Landing gear issue forces AA flight to abort takeoff
Chad Kendall, an aviation professor at Metropolitan State University of Denver, said the incident illustrated the importance of following the safety instructions flight attendants give at the beginning of each flight.
“The thing that is keeping passengers safe is properly going down the slides without carrying anything that could cause them to tumble, and we actually saw in the video someone holding a bag and then tumbling," Kendall said.
Kendall said the slides themselves are durable and unlikely to be deflated by a bag, but that carrying them can lead to injuries from tripping over the bags. He added that the crew seemed to have done everything correctly during the evacuation, and he commended the pilot for making the quick decision to abort takeoff.
Denver7 also spoke with aviation expert Steve Cowell about how this emergency situation could have happened and why passengers saw flames along with smoke. He explained the captain made the decision to reject the takeoff and is an irreversible decision.
“Once you initiate a rejected takeoff, you cannot stop, you have to follow through. So what happened was, as the airplanes coming to a stop, you don't have the braking ability that you did when you had two tires on that main landing gear section. You only had one tire, so that one tire is absorbing all the heat energy, that's what created the fire and the smoke,” Cowell said.
Moving forward the FAA will investigate, with Cowell explaining they could be looking at multiple factors including the bolts, the wheels, maintenance, and the procedures that went into replacing the tire.
“We can't blame it on the airline. We can't really blame it on the airport. What's going to be looked at is the maintenance and that includes all of the procedures,” Cowell said.
When it comes to a solution moving forward, Cowell explained this incident will help with procedures in the future and help get airlines closer to a zero-accident level.
“Well, what tends to happen is, they're going to be looking at this situation. They're going to figure out exactly why this wheel came off. They're going to refine their processes and procedures for wheel and tire replacement, and they're going to go forward with every little incident. The calculus becomes more and more perfect,” Cowell said.
All 173 passengers were able to evacuate safely, although one person was transported to the hospital for evaluation of a minor injury.
Social media reactions to the incident have been critical of those who prioritized their belongings over safety. The U.S. Department of Transportation emphasizes that airlines are responsible for repairing or reimbursing passengers for damaged luggage and contents when the bag is under the airline’s control.
Denver7's Jaclyn Allen contributed to this report
