Well, an airline is in the news again—and, again, not for a good reason. An American Airlines flight Thursday from Colorado Springs Airport diverted to Denver International Airport about 20 minutes into its flight after crew reported “engine vibrations,” according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
After landing at Denver about 40 minutes after first being diverted and while taxiing to the gate, American Airlines Flight 1006 caught on fire, forcing the 178 people onboard to evacuate by climbing onto the wing and down the emergency slides. There were 172 passengers and six crewmembers. The flight was operated by a Boeing 737-800.
A post on X by CBS News shows what the scene looked like in Denver around 6 p.m. local time:
According to CBS News, 12 passengers were taken to a nearby hospital with “minor injuries” and all remaining customers were being rebooked for another flight. All luggage was removed from the aircraft.
Fortunately, the situation was not worse, but it follows shortly on the heels of American Airlines Flight 5342 colliding with a Black Hawk helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport earlier this year, becoming America’s deadliest commercial aviation incident in 24 years. (In recent news, the FAA suspended helicopter traffic around the airport and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) this week released its preliminary report into the aircraft collision—although its investigation is ongoing.)
A Delta plane in February flipped over on the runway at Toronto Pearson International Airport. No deaths were reported and 18 of the 80 people onboard were taken to local hospitals. Several other “high-profile” airline incidents have occurred this year, including an air ambulance crashing in Philadelphia, killing all six onboard and one on the ground, as well as a turboprop operated by Bering Air crashing in Alaska, killing all 10 onboard.
Despite all of these incidents, the NTSB Aviation Dashboard shows that there have actually been fewer accidents through February of this year (145) when compared to 2024 (173). Fatal airline accidents are down, too.
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