A Southwest Airlines flight was recently forced to make an emergency landing moments after taking off from Houston, Texas, once passengers spotted one of the plane's engines had caught fire mid-air.
The plane was initially bound for the popular resort area of Cancún in Mexico before the flight was forced to return to Houston’s Hobby Airport just 27 minutes after its initial departure.
Footage of the blaze was shared on social media, revealing how several fireballs shot out from beneath the plane’s wing.
Andrew Sandino, a 38-year-old mechanical engineer captured video of the event as he was leaving work, explaining that from the ground one could see the plane spitting fire from its engine while leaving behind a trail of smoke.
"Southwest Flight #307 from Houston Hobby (HOU) to Cancún (CUN) returned to the airport on Tuesday night after experiencing a mechanical issue shortly after takeoff," a spokesperson for Southwest Airlines said in a statement.
"The aircraft landed safely, was taken out of service for review, and a different aircraft continued the flight to Cancun Tuesday evening," the company added. "We applaud the crew for their professionalism, and we appreciate our customers' patience."
However, one customer was so rattled by the terrifying experience, he and his girlfriend decided not to continue their trip to Cancún.
“All I know is it started swinging like left to right, and I thought, I’ve been on a lot of flights,” passenger Coale Kalisek said.
“I think I fly once or twice a month and I knew that wasn’t normal and so I opened up my window and I’m sitting next to the engine and that whole engine you see like fireballs coming out of it,” added Kalisek, who had been traveling to the resort for vacation with his girlfriend.
“I’m thinking damn, it’s gonna go down,” Kalisek added.
Kalisek and his girlfriend ultimately rented a car to drive 200 miles back to San Antonio, Texas.
This is not the first that Southwest has been splashed across headlines this week. Recently, a judge appointed by former President Donald Trump ordered lawyers for Southwest to receive religious freedom training from a Christian legal group following the termination and subsequent lawsuit of an employee. The unprecedented ruling is reportedly on hold for the time being.