Video: Delta's Boeing Passenger Plane's Engine Bursts Into Flames During Take-off
- A Delta Air Lines flight bound for Atlanta was forced to make an emergency return to LAX on Friday after the crew reported signs of a fire in the aircraft's left engine shortly after takeoff
- The incident involved a Boeing 767-400, over 24 years old, and video footage showed flames trailing from the left engine while the plane was airborne
- The FAA and Delta have launched investigations into the incident, which marks the airline’s second reported engine fire of 2025
Elijah Ntongai, an editor at TUKO.co.ke, has over four years of financial, business, and technology research and reporting experience, providing insights into Kenyan, African, and global trends.
A Delta Air Lines flight was forced to make an emergency return to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on Friday after the flight crew reported signs of a fire in the aircraft’s left engine.
Source: UGC
The incident involved Flight DL446 bound for Atlanta. The engine fire on the Boeing 767-400 with registration number N836MH was reported shortly after takeoff.
The aircraft, which is over 24 years old and powered by two GE CF6 engines, had just departed LAX when pilots declared an emergency following indications of a possible engine fire.
Search option is now available at TUKO! Feel free to search the content on topics/people you enjoy reading about in the top right corner ;)
Dramatic video footage from the aviation YouTube channel “LA Flights” captured the moment flames were seen trailing from the plane's left engine while it was airborne.
Did the Delta flight land safely?
The aircraft had just begun its climb over the Pacific Ocean when it veered inland, circling over the Downey and Paramount areas to prepare for landing.
Air traffic control coordinated the safe return of the plane to LAX, where airport emergency crews were on standby.
Upon landing, fire personnel from Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) quickly extinguished the flames and conducted a visual inspection to ensure the fire was fully out.
"Delta flight 446 returned to Los Angeles shortly after departure following an indication of an issue with the aircraft's left engine," Delta Airlines's spokesperson told the BBC.
There were no injuries reported among the passengers or crew.
According to data from flight tracking site Flightradar24, the aircraft followed a controlled flight path and maintained stable altitude and speed during the incident
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Delta Air Lines have launched investigations into the incident, and the aircraft has been taken out of service for further inspection and maintenance.
This is the second reported engine fire incident involving Delta Air Lines in 2025. The first occurred in January, when another Delta flight was forced to make an emergency landing due to an in-flight engine fire.
Source: Getty Images
Why did Air India plane crash?
In other news, a preliminary investigation into the June 12, 2025 crash of Air India Flight 171 in Ahmedabad, revealed that the jet’s fuel control switches were inexplicably moved from "run" to "cutoff" moments before impact.
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner was en route to London when it lost power and crashed into a residential area, killing nearly all 242 people on board and 19 on the ground.
Cockpit voice recordings captured one pilot questioning the other about cutting the fuel, to which the latter denied doing so. Although the switches briefly returned to "run" and the engines regained some power, a "mayday" call was issued just before the aircraft went down.
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau found no technical fault with the aircraft or its GE GEnx-1B engines and said the probe remains ongoing.
Proofreading by Jackson Otukho, copy editor at TUKO.co.ke.
Source: TUKO.co.ke
