{"id":18483,"date":"2025-07-27T20:19:22","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T02:19:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/passengers-flee-smoking-jet-on-emergency-slide-after-apparent-landing-gear-problem-at-denver-airport\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T19:39:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T19:39:25","slug":"passengers-flee-smoking-jet-on-emergency-slide-after-apparent-landing-gear-problem-at-denver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/passengers-flee-smoking-jet-on-emergency-slide-after-apparent-landing-gear-problem-at-denver\/","title":{"rendered":"Passengers flee smoking jet on emergency slide after apparent landing gear problem at Denver airport"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"FILE
FILE \u2013 Passengers wait in a security line at Denver International Airport on Feb. 22, 2023. (AP Photo\/Thomas Peipert, File)<\/span>dur-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Passengers slid down an emergency slide of a smoking jet at Denver International Airport due to a possible problem with the plane\u2019s landing gear, authorities said.<\/p>\n

American Airlines Flight 3023 reported a \u201cpossible landing gear incident\u201d during its departure from Denver on Saturday afternoon, the Federal Aviation Administration said. The problem involved an aircraft tire, the Fort Worth, Texas-based airline said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The Boeing 737 MAX 8 carrying 173 passengers and six crew members was on its way to Miami International Airport, American said.<\/p>\n

Video<\/a> aired by local media showed people sliding down the inflatable chute near the front of the plane while clutching luggage and small children. Some passengers, including at least one adult carrying a young child, tripped at the end of the slide and fell onto the concrete runway. Passengers were then taken to the terminal by bus.<\/p>\n

Shay Armistead, a 17-year-old from Minturn, Colorado, described a chaotic scene.<\/p>\n

After hearing a loud \u201cboom,\u201d the plane \u201cstarted to violently shake and we were drifting to the left side of the runway,\u201d Armistead told The Associated Press in an interview.<\/p>\n

Armistead and her teammates on a ski racing team were on their way from Colorado to Chile when it happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started grabbing my friend\u2019s hands, I was like \u2018Oh my God,\u2019 and then they slammed on the brakes, and we all like went forward and they finally brought the plane to a stop,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was just terrifying.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the passengers was taken to a hospital with a minor injury, American Airlines said in its statement. Five people were evaluated for injuries at the scene but did not require hospitalization, airport officials said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbout halfway to takeoff speed, we hear a big bang and a pop,\u201d passenger Shaun Williams told KUSA-TV<\/a>. \u201cThe pilot immediately started abort procedures for taking off. You could feel him start to hit the brakes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Firefighters extinguished a fire on the aircraft, the Denver Fire Department said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll customers and crew deplaned safely, and the aircraft was taken out of service to be inspected by our maintenance team,\u201d American said.<\/p>\n

In a statement, the FAA said it\u2019s investigating.<\/p>\n

Armistead said she\u2019s thankful for everyone who helped her and the other passengers, and grateful that she\u2019s safe.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve just got to appreciate what you\u2019re given, and I\u2019m so grateful that it wasn\u2019t worse,\u201d Armistead said.<\/p>\n

This story corrects the spelling of a passenger\u2019s name. She is Shay Armistead, not Armisteaz.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Miami-bound Boeing 737 MAX 8 carried 173 passengers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18484,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-18483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18483"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18483\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20615,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18483\/revisions\/20615"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18483"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=18483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}