Wheels on a cargo plane landing at Los Angeles International Airport on Wednesday night erupted into flames on the runway, video shows.
Footage obtained by Airline Videos, a website that posts plane-spotting footage, shows a DHL jetliner touching down on the runway and, seconds later, white smoke emitting from the aircraft’s rear tires.
Moments after the front tires hit the ground, there are three loud pops and flashes of light from the area around them, followed by flames.
The plane continued down the runway as sparks and fire wrapped around the rear fuselage before it slowed to a stop. Emergency vehicles then arrived and began dousing the aircraft with water as one set of the rear tires appeared to be burning.
Audio from air traffic controllers can be heard telling other aircraft to temporarily avoid the runway. The flight was arriving from Phoenix, Ariz., according to the website.
“I don’t know if we blew a tire, but it feels like the brakes locked up,” a pilot is heard saying in the video.
The flight was a Kalitta Charters II aircraft operating on behalf of the shipping company, a DHL spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
The aircraft “experienced an apparent brake system issue upon landing at the LAX airport on the night of August 26, which resulted in a brake overheat,” the company said. “The carrier is currently working to move the aircraft to facilitate further inspection and assessment.”
The Los Angeles Fire Department deployed 13 units to douse the fire after it got a report from air traffic control of a problem with one of the aircraft’s engines at 11:06 p.m., spokesperson Jennifer Middleton said. Nobody was injured, and the department didn’t need to help any of the people on the plane get off. The last unit left the scene at 12:44 a.m.
Representatives for LAX did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
