There's yet another wild aircraft story coming from Florida.
Per NBC 6 South Florida, a "softball-sized hole" was found above one of the engines of an Atlas Air cargo plane that departed the Miami International Airport on Thursday evening. Video from Only in Dade on X shows fire coming from the aircraft due to the engine failure, resulting in the plane, Atlas Air Flight 95, making an emergency landing back at MIA. The Boeing 747 was scheduled to arrive at Luis Muñoz Marin International Airport in Puerto Rico before its 11:03 p.m. return to MIA.
NBC 6 also retrieved audio from the crew's mayday calls to air traffic control. "Mayday, mayday...we have an engine fire," the audio transcript reads. "Request access back to the airport. No, we'll go ahead and land. We have five souls onboard."
No one was injured during the malfunction, and Atlas Air said that the crew followed all safety protocols. “At Atlas, safety is always a top priority and we will be conducting a thorough inspection to determine the cause,” a spokesperson for the company said.
This emergency triggers another investigation into Boeing, just weeks after a door plug for the fuselage of a Boeing 737 Max 9 was blown off during an Alaska Airlines passenger flight. The incident took place on Jan. 5, after Flight 1282 ascended from Portland International Airport. The damaged section of the plane resulted in the cabin being depressurized, exposing passengers to open air after the aircraft climbed to 16,000 feet.
Although no passengers experienced serious injuries, the clothing of some passengers was ripped off due to the ordeal, and an iPhone was found fully intact in the backyard of a Cedar Hills residence. The flight was en route to Ontario, California. Since the incident, Alaska Airlines ordered all Boeing 737 Max 9 planes to be grounded for inspection.
