Delta flight returns to Savannah airport after engine trouble sparks grass fire

Garden City Fire Rescue via CNN Newsource

By Sana Noor Haq, Diego Mendoza

(CNN) — A Delta Air Lines flight from Savannah, Georgia, to Atlanta was forced to turn back Sunday night due to engine trouble, which sparked a large grass fire near the airport runway, according to air traffic control audio.

Delta flight 1067, a Boeing 737-900, had just taken off from Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport around 6:45 p.m. Sunday when the pilot declared an emergency.

“Everything ok? I saw a pretty large flame on takeoff,” an air traffic controller asked the pilot, heard in a radio recording on Broadcastify.

“We lost left engine straight out here for Delta 1067,” the pilot can be heard saying.

The controller acknowledges the grass fire shortly after, telling another plane on the runway to move, saying “we’re going to get a fire truck out there, that whole taxiway is on fire.”

The pilot of flight 1067 later asks: “This fire. Is it related to the runway? Is it what just happened with our airplane, or is it something different?”

The controller replied, “Unfortunately, when the engine blew, it set the whole grass on the left side of the airport on fire.”

There were 179 customers, 2 pilots and 4 flight attendants on board, according to CNN affiliate WSB. No one was injured.

“Delta flight 1067 from Savannah to Atlanta returned to the airport soon after takeoff Sunday evening, following a mechanical issue with the aircraft’s left engine,” Delta said in a statement, according to CNN affiliate WJCL.

“The Boeing 737-900 landed safely and was met by fire trucks, with customers deplaning at the gate,” the airline statement said.

The flight landed back at the transit hub at 7:12 p.m., according to flight tracker FlightAware.

Video shared on social media showed large rings of fire alongside the runway, with a thick, orange haze on the horizon. In one video, breakneck winds can be heard.

Passengers Mary Muff and Jeanne Miraglia told CNN affiliate WTOC how they heard a large boom around take off.

“The pilot came on saying the engine had blown, but we have another good engine,” Miraglia told WTOC. “And we’re gonna be fine and told us what to look for - fire trucks, grass fires, and things like that.”

CNN has reached out to Delta Air Lines, Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport, and the Federal Aviation Administration.

Emergency response teams, including firefighters, were called to the scene Garden City Fire Rescue said on Facebook. The department said it was operating in coordination with the Savannah Fire Department, Pooler Fire-Rescue and 165th Airlift Wing Fire Department.

The blaze has since been extinguished, WSB reported, and the fire did not affect flights or runways, WJCL reported.

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