An American Airlines plane was forced to make an emergency landing in South Carolina after flames were seen shooting from the engine when the aircraft reportedly struck a bird.
Dramatic video, filmed by passenger Patrick Gotwalt, shows flames streaming from beneath the left wing moments after the Boeing 737 took off from Myrtle Beach on Monday and flew over the water.
Several loud popping noises were heard before orange flashes were seen coming from the wing, nearby beachgoer Lindsey Mackey told CNN.
American flight 1760 was making the short journey to Charlotte, North Carolina, with 172 passengers and nine crew on board when the pilot reported an issue.
“Mayday, mayday, mayday. We’ve got an engine problem here,” the pilot said shortly after takeoff, according to a recording taken from LiveATC.
“I saw he took up birds, it looked like, at least in the left side engine,” said another pilot, who saw the bird strike, on the radio.
Multiple bird remains were found on the runway by operations workers as the plane circled and prepared to make an emergency landing.
“We’ve got a lot of bird debris out here. We’re going to grab as many big pieces as we can,” one of the workers is heard saying on the radio.
American Airlines confirmed that the flight returned to Myrtle Beach shortly after departure due to a maintenance issue.
Early reports show that the flames may have been caused by the birds burning up — but that there was no indication of a fire inside the engine itself.
“The aircraft landed safely and has been taken out of service to be inspected by our maintenance team,” a spokesperson told The Post.
“Our team worked to get customers on their way to Charlotte on a replacement aircraft,” they added.
No injuries were reported, and passengers praised the crew for staying calm as the plane shook in midair.
“It seemed to take off the first 10-15 seconds fine. And then it started to shudder really hard on our side, which was the engine that took a bird strike,” one passenger told WCNC.
“The pilots were nice and calm; they seemed to level off, they went over the ocean, gave us a notice that they were coming back and we came back. I guess we were up about 15 minutes, maybe,” they added.
