‘We hear this huge pop’: Passenger aboard AA flight from Charlotte to Seattle describes emergency landing at CLT

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (FOX 46 CHARLOTTE) – An American Airlines plane traveling from Charlotte to Seattle this weekend experienced an emergency landing at Charlotte-Douglas, rattling some passengers onboard.

FOX 46 spoke with one passenger who was on AA Flight 2775 Sunday morning as the pilot reported an engine failure.

“We’re just about to get wheels off the runway, and we hear this huge pop and it sounded like either a tire blew or hit a giant pothole,” Madeleine Clinard said, who was a passenger on the AA 2775 flight.

From Row 28, Clinard broadcast to Facebook Live. She told FOX 46 she was planning for the worst.

“Casey and I are on our flight and we have to do an emergency landing. If you all could please pray for us. We had an engine malfunction on takeoff. We’re on American Airlines headed from Charlotte to Seattle,” Clinard is heard saying in the Facebook Live.

In a statement from the airline, American said the aircraft was never in any danger and that the flight returned to Charlotte without incident and taxied to the gate.

For the Clinard’s, the scariest part was preparing for landing.

“Fifteen to thirty seconds, something like that, when we heard complete silence, and the flight attendants, we saw them getting busy going up and down the aisles pretty quickly,” Clinard explained.

After landing in Charlotte, the couple boarded a new flight to Seattle with an appreciation for how emergencies in the air are handled.

“Just to have the knowledge that you understand, the crew knows exactly what to do in this situation. The pilots are trained for this. They are going to try and get you to safety out of the aircraft as efficiently as possible,” Clinard said.

Last Friday, a separate American Airlines flight had to circle back after it experienced an issue immediately after takeoff. AA jets are designed to fly with only one engine, according to experts. In these specific situations, what pilots and rescue crews on the ground are concerned about is the aircraft being able to stop on the runway.

Planes traveling to the West Coast are typically filled with tens of thousands of pounds of jet fuel. Overweight landings can put extra stress on the tires, landing gear, and breaks.

Full statement from American Airlines sent to FOX 46:

“Yesterday, American Airlines flight 2775 with service from Charlotte (CLT) to Seattle (SEA) returned to CLT shortly after takeoff due to a possible mechanical issue. The aircraft landed safely at 9:57 a.m. local time, without incident, and taxied to the gate.

We changed aircraft and the flight re-departed for SEA at 2:44 p.m. EST. We never want to disrupt our customer’s travel plans and apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.“