Boeing’s Latest Problem: A Cargo Plane’s Exploding Engine

Boeing, one of the world’s largest aircraft manufacturers, has been in the news a lot lately but not in a good way. Safety incidents involving the company’s planes keep cropping up and this week brought yet another example of that unfortunate trend. On Thursday, an Atlas Air 747 cargo plane was forced to make an emergency landing in Florida after one of its engines burst into flames.

The plane, which took off from Miami en route to Puerto Rico, suffered the frightening malfunction shortly after takeoff. Video footage of the problem was captured by onlookers and shared widely on social media. In the video, the plane can be seen streaking across the sky, visibly on fire, while the person taking the video yells: “Oh my god it’s on fire!”

What caused the mid-air inferno? It’s unclear right now, though Reuters reports that, during a post-flight inspection process, a “softball-size hole” was discovered above the craft’s engine. Gizmodo reached out to Boeing for comment and will update this story if it responds.

Boeing has been in deep trouble ever since January 8, when an unfortunate Alaska Airlines flight was interrupted by a sudden rupture to its hull. The flight was traveling from Oregon to California when one section of the fuselage was suddenly blown out, causing numerous carry-on items to get sucked out of the plane. While nobody was injured, it kicked off a serious debate about the safety procedures at Boeing, which manufactured the plane.

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating Boeing over the Alaska Airlines incident to “determine if Boeing failed to ensure completed products conformed to its approved design and were in a condition for safe operation in compliance with FAA regulations.” It is also investigating the Miami incident.