Video shows fiery Southwest Airlines plane returning to Houston airport
HOUSTON - A Southwest Airlines flight had to make a quick turnaround after an engine caught fire over Houston.
Video shows flames coming from the plane while it was in the air Tuesday.
Southwest confirmed the flight from Houston's Hobby Airport to Cancun experienced a "mechanical issue" after takeoff.
A passenger on the flight told KHOU, a TV station in Houston, that the engine trouble woke him up from a nap. He was headed to Cancun for a vacation with his girlfriend.
"All I know is that it started, like, swinging, like, left and right. And I thought … I've been on a lot of flights," Coale Kalisek said. "Like, I fly probably once or twice a month, and I knew that wasn't normal, and so I opened up my window, and I'm sitting right next to the engine and the whole engine, like, you see like fireballs shooting out of it."
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Records show why the woman was actually so upset in the first place.
The plane turned around and was able to land safely, and the passengers were put on a different flight to their destination.
Kalisek told the TV station he and his girlfriend were too scared to continue their trip.
Southwest said the plane has been taken out of service.