Passenger plane drops debris on Denver suburbs then lands safely

A United Airlines flight bound for Honolulu suffered a right engine failure on Saturday shortly after departing Denver International Airport and scattered debris before returning safely to the airport, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

United said in a statement there were no reported injuries on Flight 328, which had 231 passengers and 10 crew on board.

Police in Broomfield, Colorado posted photos of pieces of debris from the Boeing 777-200 near houses and other buildings but there were no immediate reports of any injuries on the ground.

The FAA said it and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) would investigate.

Marc Sallinger
(@MarcSallinger)

A passenger on United 328 took this video of flames shooting out from the engine. Some people told me they said prayers and held their loved ones’ hands as they looked out the window. Flight was on its way to Hawaii from Denver. Glad everyone onboard is safe #9News pic.twitter.com/c8TNYlugU2

February 20, 2021

The images posted by police appeared to show large pieces of debris including an engine casing from the plane scattered outside a home and on a turf field. A video on social media showed a cloud of black smoke being left by a plane.

“Something blew up,” a man could be heard saying.

“If you find debris PLEASE don’t touch it or move it,” Broomfield police said on Twitter. “The NTSB wants all debris to remain in place for investigation.”

Broomfield is a suburb about 25 miles north of Denver. Tyler Thal, who lives in the area, told the Associated Press he was out for a walk with his family when he noticed a large commercial plane flying unusually low and took his phone out to film it.

“While I was looking at it, I saw an explosion and then the cloud of smoke and some debris falling from it,” he said in a phone interview.

Rex Chapman🏇🏼
(@RexChapman)

United Airlines Boeing 777 operating as flight 328 flying from Denver — Honolulu suffered a serious engine failure on takeoff.

It made an emergency landing and everyone is ok.

Check out these pieces of the engine falling from the sky…pic.twitter.com/1IyBj6Nlf2

February 20, 2021

“It was just like a speck in the sky and as I’m watching that, I’m telling my family what I just saw and then we heard the explosion. The plane just kind of continued on and we didn’t see it after that.”

Thal was relieved to learn later that the plane had made a safe landing.