An American Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 flight, which departed from Miami, Florida on Monday, attempted to land safely at St Vincent Argyle International Airport in the Grenadines when passengers aboard the plane and witnesses on the ground were startled by a loud, explosive bang.
As Flight AA909 descended onto the runway, making contact with the tarmac, two of its main landing gear tires blew turning its routine landing into a nightmare for passengers on board.
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Passengers Safely Evacuated, No Injuries Reported
According to witnesses, smoke could be seen rising from the landing gear area as pilots taxied the aircraft past the airport terminal.
At the time of this publication, the number of passengers and crew onboard the aircraft had not yet been provided.
“American Airlines, Flight 909, with service from Miami International Airport to St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVD), experienced a mechanical issue upon landing at SVD. The aircraft was taken out of service to be inspected by our maintenance team. We thank our crew for their professionalism and our customers for their understanding,” said American Airlines officials in a statement.
Thanks to the swift action of firefighters, passengers were immediately evacuated from the
aircraft
via airstairs wherein they were then shuttled by airport bus to the terminal. No injuries were reported due to the incident, and the runway was temporarily closed but has since reopened.
Investigations are ongoing as to the cause of the blown tires.
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American Airlines Has a History of Blown Aircraft Tires
This recent incident in St. Vincent is not the first time American Airlines has experienced problems with its tires blowing on a runway.
In July 2024, American Airlines Flight 590 was preparing for takeoff from Tampa International Airport bound for Phoenix, Arizona, when as it was accelerating down the runway about to liftoff from the tarmac, a tire blew under the aircraft near the right wing, causing black smoke to billow from beneath it.
A total of 174 passengers and six crew members were on the
aircraft
, and thankfully were not injured, but were quite shaken after the flight stopped only seconds before becoming airborne.
“There wasn’t much runway left when we finally stopped, fully loaded and four hours of fuel. When we stopped, the captain said the firetrucks were coming only out of an abundance of caution, but from row 30, we could see flames,” the traveler recalled, noting that the “tires on one side shredded and burned, the other two were flat.”
Immediately following that incident, all the passengers and crew members were evacuated from the aircraft and shuttled to the airport terminal shortly after 8 a.m. by emergency responders.
American Airlines immediately rebooked each passenger on alternative flights to Phoenix after apologizing for the inconvenience.