The captain of an Allegiant Airlines MD-88 reportedly stopped the imminent evacuation of the aircraft on the runway at Las Vegas’s McCarran International Airport Sunday after crews extinguished an engine fire. The local ABC affiliate, 13 Action News, reported the flight crew aborted the takeoff of Flight 516 to Fresno about 1:20 p.m. after “indications of a mechanical issue,” according to Allegiant officials. There were 160 passengers and six crew on the aircraft. With the right engine on fire, the cabin crew started evacuation procedures and that’s when the captain reportedly stepped in.
According to an account in eTurboNews, after the plane stopped on the runway a flight attendant picked up the mic to start getting passengers ready for an evacuation. “Do not take anything from the carry on, get ready to evacuate,” the crew member is quoted as saying, but a moment later, the captain came on. “Hang on, we’re getting ready, but it looks like we’re fine, we are fine!” Passengers were bused to the terminal and a video shot from the bus shows passengers commenting on a blown tire on the aircraft. It appears there were no injuries. Last month a British Airways Boeing 777 was heavily damaged when an uncontained engine failure caused a high-speed abort at Las Vegas. A total of 27 people were slightly injured in the subsequent evacuation.
