The passengers and crew of this British Airways operated Boeing 777 are lucky to be alive after the aircraft experienced an uncontained and catastrophic engine failure on the takeoff roll. Luckily the aircraft had not departed the runway yet, and was billowing black smoke from an engine fire on the left engine. The fire seriously damaged the aircraft on the runway at Las Vegas International Airport.
If the fire had only been moments later, when the aircraft was airborne, the outcome could have been devastating. Quick reactions of the crew allowed those onboard to quickly evacuate the airplane on emergency slides. There were 159 passengers and 13 crew.
The fire shredded the left GE90 engine and sent shrapnel into the main fuselage of the 777-200 initiating fire and smoke. The video below illustrates the seriousness of the situation. Flames can be seen shooting from the fuselage at the roots of the wings near the engines.
The incident occourred on Tuesday September 8.
