After a bird strike on takeoff that caused an engine fire on Spirit Airlines' flight from Atlantic City, passengers grabbed their bags from overhead lockers. Crew members advised them to stay seated.
Spirit Airlines flight NK3044 was scheduled to depart Atlantic City, but a bird got into the right-hand engine and was sucked into it at 5:45.
However, the engine caught fire from the bird that was ingested. The pilots were able stop the plane safely on the runway.
The pilots instructed passengers to stay seated while they assessed the situation. There was no immediate danger to passengers but many ignored crew members' instructions and began to grab large rollaboard bags out of overhead lockers.
One flight attendant tried to tell me, "Remain seated," but it was not enough. A cell phone video captured a passenger aboard the aircraft and showed smoke and flames coming from the right-hand engine.
One passenger yelled, "We need to get out here!" Another tried to calm the chaos by keeping others from getting too excited.
The smoke began to dissipate and the cabin atmosphere calmed down, and the evacuation alarm was sound and the Captain declared: Evacuate.
One passenger asked, "Are we taking our bags?" as others reached for their carry on bags. Passengers were urged by flight attendants to abandon all their possessions.
Modern jet planes can be evacuated within 90 seconds. However, cellphone video shows passengers being evacuated using emergency slides approximately two and a quarter minutes after the evacuation alarm sounded.
On Saturday evening, Phil Murphy, New Jersey Govenior, tweeted. The plane was evacuated with no injuries to passengers or crew. The airport has been reopened.
Spirit released the following statement: A spokesperson for Spirit stated that the captain had braked safely, brought the plane to an abrupt halt, received information about damage to the engine and ordered an evacuation according to our standard procedures.
Our crew handled the situation quickly and safely, which we commend.
It was not immediately clear how many people and crew were aboard the aircraft.
