A Boeing 747 cargo airliner made an emergency landing Thursday night after being seen spewing flames above Miami.
The Federal Aviation Administration, which is already investigating Boeing after an Alaska Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing this month when a door plug broke off the fuselage in midair, said in a statement Friday that it will look into the current incident on an Atlas Air flight.
Flight 5Y095, bound for Luis Muñoz Marin International Airport in Puerto Rico, safely landed after an engine issue shortly after takeoff from Miami International Airport, according to the airline’s statement.
“The crew adhered to all established procedures and safely returned to MIA. At Atlas, safety is always our first priority, and we will undertake a comprehensive investigation to discover the cause,” Atlas Air stated.
The jet took off Thursday at 10:22 p.m. ET and landed in Miami at 10:30 p.m., according to the FAA.
A source involved with the inquiry told NBC News on Friday that a preliminary examination of the Atlas Air engine discovered “a softball-sized hole above the #2 engine.”
A Miami resident’s cellphone video, published to Instagram late Thursday, shows a plane flying across the sky with what looks to be a trail of fire behind it.
“Oh, my God, it is on fire!” “Oh, my God,” the individual capturing the video is heard saying as the plane leaves a trail of bright yellow and crimson in its wake.
Melanie Adaros, who lives near Miami Executive Airport, was on a walk with her mother when she noticed the plane.
“There’s always planes flying overhead, but they’re little planes,” she told The Associated Press. “But that didn’t sound like a small plane. It sounded quite low, so I turned… You always observe a plane ascending or descending. This one was just at a steady level, spitting sparkles. It felt so strange.”
Atlas Air transports a wide range of cargo, from perishables to heavy construction equipment. It also arranges large group passenger charters for celebrities and dignitaries, according to its website.
The incident in Miami is the latest in a string of problems for Boeing. The announcement comes two weeks after the Alaska Airlines flight incident, which caused the FAA to halt certain Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft across the United States. That action threw the country’s air transport into disarray and resulted in several flight cancellations.
The FAA announced Wednesday that inspections of 40 of the 171 grounded planes had been completed.
“The safety of the flying public, not speed, will determine the timeline for returning these aircraft to service,” the Department of Transportation said.
The National Transportation Safety Board says it is looking into the Atlas Air incident.
In a statement on the Miami crash, Boeing stated it is “supporting our customer and will support the NTSB investigation into this incident.”