Plane Catches Fire On Takeoff At Florida Airport

An engine on a passenger jet bound for Venezuela burst into flames while taxiing for takeoff at Fort Lauderdale airport on Thursday, forcing passengers to exit the plane using emergency slides.

Fifteen people were injured, one seriously, as 101 passengers and crew evacuated the Dynamic International Airways' Boeing 767-200ER.

Television images showed the plane surrounded by white foam and firefighters' trucks, its left engine badly charred.

The 29-year-old aircraft was leaking fuel before departure, the Federal Aviation Administration said. Its crew was warned about the leak by a jet taxiing behind it.

In video shot by a passenger on another plane, towering clouds of thick smoke could be seen billowing from the aircraft before the blaze was extinguished.

Most of the injuries were bumps and bruises, Michael Jachles, a spokesman for the Broward Sheriff's Office, told reporters. One child was among those being treated in hospital, a spokeswoman said.

The accident could have been catastrophic had the jet taken off with a fuel leak, Greg Feith, a former crash investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board said.

"Once the aircraft is airborne, it becomes a flying blowtorch," Feith said. "The fire intensifies and you don't know what system or structure it's going to burn through."

Fire could damage a wing and fuselage, or cripple hydraulic and electronic control systems, Feith said, potentially making an emergency landing impossible. It could also ignite fuel tanks in the wings, he said.

"A LOT OF FUEL"

Flight crew audio broadcast by CNN captured the moments when those on the Venezuela-bound jet were warned of the danger.

"Hey, yeah, Dynamic, the left engine looks like it's leaking, I don't know, a lot of fuel. There is fluid leaking out of the left engine," a voice can be heard saying.

A short time later another voice says, "Engine's on fire! Engine's on fire! We're calling the fire engine right now."

Officials got a call at 12:34 pm EDT that Dynamic Airways flight 405 experienced a left engine fire while taxiing on one of the airport's two runways.

Passengers had been completely evacuated by 12:37 pm, Jachles of the sheriff's office told a news conference.

The airport reopened about three hours later.

The NTSB is sending four people to Fort Lauderdale to investigate the latest fire, the agency said.

Feith, the former NTSB investigator, said they will try to determine the source of the fire and why it caused so much damage, and could recommend modifications to the 767 fleet and general airline procedures to prevent a recurrence.

Greensboro, North Carolina-based Dynamic said it has operated wide-body aircraft since 2009 and will investigate the fire.

The carrier flies from Fort Lauderdale and New York's JFK airport to Caracas and Maracaibo in Venezuela, as well as to Georgetown in Guyana, according to its website.

Dynamic said it was arranging accommodation and transport for all the passengers impacted, and that it expects to continue operations as per its schedule on Friday.

The 767-200ER was built in 1986, and only seven such planes of that age or older remain in service out of 65 built, according to aircraft appraisal firm Collateral Verifications. The plane was powered by Pratt & Whitney JT9D engines.

The fire came less than two months after an engine on a British Airways Boeing 777 caught fire in Las Vegas as the plane was about to take off for London, forcing all 172 passengers and crew to escape down emergency slides.