Passengers on United Airlines Flight 328 that took off from Denver, Colorado, were in for a shocking ride on Saturday when one of its engines suffered a failure and rained debris on a neighborhood where the plane narrowly missed a home, Reuters, the Associate Press and other news reported on Sunday.
Large chunks of metal from the plane landed in a neighborhood outside Denver, Colorado, with some pieces that looked to even be around the size of the houses themselves, authorities said.
While the debris damaged some properties, Broomfield police said they have not received reports of injuries.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the plane, a Boeing 777-200 with 231 passengers and 10 crewmembers, landed safely at Denver International Airport after the engine scare. All passengers were rebooked on a new flight to Hawaii, United said.
According to AP, the plane was nearly at cruising altitude and the captain was announcing over the intercom when a loud explosion shook the cabin, accompanied by a bright flash.
The pilot told air traffic control that they were experiencing an "engine failure" after reporting a "heavy mayday."
Video posted on Twitter showed the plane's engine fully engulfed in flames as it tried to stay in the air.
"We heard a gigantic boom and we saw a huge puff of smoke and then stuff started falling out of the sky," a Broomfield resident, who was playing basketball at a nearby elementary school when he saw the metal parts raining down from the sky, said, as per NBC News report.
Two Pratt & Whitney PW4000 engines power the 26-year-old 777. Investigators said they will focus on what caused the plane's engine to fail and will look at whether a fan blade failed.
Boeing declined to comment on the incident and referred questions to United Airlines, Reuters said.
"Big thanks to the pilot and crew for safely landing the aircraft," HuffPost quoted a spokesperson for Denver International Airport as saying in a tweet.
