Videos show chaos after plane aborts takeoff
An American Airlines flight aborted a take off just before it left the ground at Chicago's O'Hare International airport Friday and the ensuing chaos was captured from every angle by passengers.
Flight 383, a 767 bound for Miami, blew a tire, forcing the pilot to apply the brakes. Flames quickly engulfed the plane — possibly as a result of the emergency braking — and passengers were deplaned via escape chutes.
Several runways at the busy airport were closed as a result.
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Passengers were quick to post photos and videos from the incident.
One clip posted to Facebook by Hector Gustavo Cardenas showed the terror and confusion on passengers' faces as they rushed to exit the plane via an emergency slide before turning around to glimpse the flames under the plane.
Other videos on Instagram showed the scene from outside the plane, where people rushed to help those still coming down the slide while black smoke billowed into the sky.
Further footage posted to Twitter showed passengers standing around on the grass by the tarmac — some with their overhead luggage — looking on as emergency services rushed to the scene.
Controversial reaction
The event's capture on social media prompted another discussion about the reaction icons used by viewers, with some pointing out that Halloween-themed emoji are perhaps not the best response to a serious — and potentially but thankfully not fatal — news event.
Nevertheless, one news report's Facebook story gained several Frankenstein's monsters and some purple witches.
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The Federal Aviation Authority is investigating the cause of the incident. No one was injured.
Tim Chester was Senior Editor, Real Time News in Los Angeles. Before that he was Deputy Editor of Mashable UK in London. Prior to joining Mashable, Tim was a Senior Web Editor at Penguin Random House, helping to relaunch the Rough Guides website and other travel brands. He was also a writer for Buzzfeed, GQ and The Sunday Times, covering everything from culture to tech and current affairs. Before that, he was Deputy Editor at NME.COM, overseeing content and development on the London-based music and entertainment site. Tim loves music and travel and has combined these two passions at festivals from Iceland to Malawi and beyond.
