Image Credit: Screenshot | Instagram | @highlymigratoryfisher 
Passengers were forced to evacuate an American Airlines flight that caught fire moments before takeoff at Denver International Airport on Saturday.
A Miami-bound Boeing 737 MAX carrying 179 people experienced a “possible landing gear incident,” leading to a brake fire, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
“This afternoon, DEN First Responders and the Denver Fire Department responded to a reported issue with an American Airlines flight (AA3023, DEN-MIA) on a runway. Those on board are now off the aircraft,” airport authorities announced following the incident.
Witness footage shows passengers exiting via the evacuation slide directly onto the runway.
“The plane started vibrating and shaking really bad,” Shay Armistead told CNN. “We started tilting to the left side of the runway, and then we heard the sound of the wind from them lifting up the brakes of the plane and slamming on them really hard.”
“One passenger was screaming, ‘We’re all gonna die.’ Another passenger was not sitting down and cooperating, and so it was kind of just a lot of panic.”
One person was hospitalized with a minor injury while five more received medical evaluations at the scene.
“All customers and crew deplaned safely, and the aircraft was taken out of service to be inspected by our maintenance team. We thank our team members for their professionalism and apologize to our customers for their experience,” American Airlines explained in a statement.
The harrowing incident unfolded just a day after two flight attendants were injured when a Southwest Airlines flight was forced to nosedive to avoid a mid-air collision over Los Angeles.
Boeing’s 737 MAX airliner has been riddled with malfunctions and design errors since its introduction in 2017, as InfoWars has reported.
