American Airlines plane 'explodes' into flames shortly after takeoff as huge boom heard

A dramatic mid-air explosion forced a passenger jet to turn back just minutes after take-off, in the latest in a troubling wave of aviationincidents gripping the skies.

The American Airlines flight, bound for North Carolina, was mid-air at 8:20am local time on Wednesday when a loud boom erupted from one of its engines. Flames and thick smoke were seen pouring from the left side of the aircraft, captured in alarming footage posted online. There were 165 passengers onboard, but airport spokesperson Luke Nimmo later confirmed the plane returned safely to Harry Reid International Airport and that no injuries were reported.

READ MORE: Expert details Air India plane's 'problem' she believes led to horror crash

“The aircraft taxied to the gate under its own power,” Nimmo added, noting that fire crews had inspected the engines after landing. The Federal Aviation Administration has since launched an investigation into what went wrong. It comes amid a spate of air travel disasters across the US and beyond.

Just weeks ago, a small plane crashed in a remote mining area west of Tucson, Arizona, killing two people. The wreckage was found near Green Valley, with Pima County Sheriff’s officials describing it as a “very difficult scene that may last into Friday.” The aircraft, privately owned, had departed earlier that day from Ryan Airfield. The FAA later confirmed it “crashed under unknown circumstances,” with the National Transportation Safety Board still investigating the circumstances leading to the collision.

In January, tragedy struck Washington DC when 67 people were killed in a catastrophic collision between a passenger jet and a US Army helicopter. The disaster prompted the Trump administration to sack around 400 FAA staff, including key radar and navigation maintenance workers.

Investigations revealed a single air traffic controller had been tasked with managing both commercial and military aircraft at the airport at the time of the crash. The National Air Traffic Controllers Association have warned that staffing shortages are now among the worst in three decades, with exhausted personnel working six-day weeks and ten-hour shifts.

On Tuesday, fresh concerns were raised when the National Transportation Safety Board blamed “multiple system failures” for a terrifying incident involving an Alaska Airlines jet. In January 2024, a section of the aircraft’s fuselage was torn off mid-flight over Oregon, forcing a dramatic emergency landing. Miraculously, all 171 passengers and six crew members survived.

More recently in India, only one person survived a devastating plane crash in Ahmedabad. Air India flight 171, a Boeing 787-8 carrying over 240 people to London, erupted in flames moments after takeoff.

Some pilots have suggested extreme heat may have played a role, warning that hot air can make landing and takeoff more dangerous, while other experts have theorised that an extremely rare double engine failure could have caused the aircraft to go down.