American Airlines Plane Forced to Make Emergency Landing Due to ‘Mechanical Failure’; Investigation Uncovers Loose Parts on Another Jet

AN American Airlines jet was forced to make an emergency landing just minutes after taking off due to a mechanical fault.

It comes just days after a preliminary report by the NTSB revealed that another American Airlines plane had loose and incorrectly-fitted parts.

On Saturday morning 119 passengers were diverted when their aircraft had to make an emergency landing.

Flight 449 heading to Chicago O’Hare International Airport safely landed back at Des Moines International Airport in Iowa.

It had only taken off from there 30 minutes earlier around 6:05 am.

After returning to the tarmac at 6:40 am, passengers were evacuated and re-booked onto another American Airlines flight.

Sarah Hoodjer, the communications manager at the airport, informed the Des Moines Register that a mechanical problem caused the plane to return to the airport.

She reassured travelers that this is not an uncommon occurrence with mechanical problems regularly causing diversions and emergency landings.

Workers immediately started investigating the cause of the issue and the jet was scheduled to take off after it was resolved, she said.

The outlet added that some passengers chose to wait for the repair rather than be re-booked onto a different flight.

This incident follows just days after the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) published an initial report on Thursday concerning an American Airlines aircraft that caught fire following an emergency landing on March 13.

Horrified passengers were forced to escape the burning plane by climbing onto the wing at Denver Airport.

American Airlines Flight 1006, which departed from Colorado Springs, ended up landing in Denver at about 5:15 pm local time after it diverted from its original destination in Dallas.

The crew on Boeing 737-800 reported engine vibrations before it went up in flames, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

All 172 passengers on board, along with six crew members, were evacuated safely after the scary ordeal, the company said with 12 taken to hospital with minor injuries.

Now, investigators say that the plane had incorrectly installed parts and loose fittings in the engines.

One element that was loose “allowing fuel to leak from the fitting.”

Soon after the plane arrived safely at the gate following the route diversion, passengers started yelling “fire” outside as smoke filled the cabin.

Passenger Helen Prager recalled the terrifying moment to CBS News saying: “Everyone was screaming, ‘There’s a fire. There’s a fire,'”

“Literally at the gate and I was screaming, ‘Get the doors open.'”

The exact cause of the fire which was put out in under a minute by ground crews is still being investigated, the report noted.

“The way this is looking is that there was a maintenance issue that led to this fire and we’ve gotta figure out where that error occurred so we can keep that error from happening again,” former NTSB chair Robert Sumwalt, told the outlet.

Meanwhile, earlier this week American Airlines suffered another mishap when it sent the wrong-sized plane to the airport.