A Frontier Airlines plane carrying 166 passengers had to return to the airport when “a section of the engine cover, called a cowling, came loose and separated from the aircraft” according to ABC News.
The plane had taken off from Las Vegas and was heading for Tampa when the incident took place.
In a statement from Frontier Airlines, they said that the pilots followed procedure and returned to the airport while the engine continued to operate normally. The plane, an Airbus 320 landed without issue at 7:26 am PT, making it to the gate on its own.
Jazmin Pedraza, a passenger on the Frontier Airlines flight, told ABC News some details about what took place during the flight. “As the plane started to accelerate, to take off, there were engine pieces flying and the engine had caught a slight fire. … One man started yelling and then everyone was yelling for assistance and pressing the buttons for [the crew] to stop the plane but we had already started taking off,” she said.
Pedraza also mentioned that once the flight attendants saw what was taking place, they notified the pilots and got the passengers under control. An announcement let the passengers know that they would be making an emergency landing.
The plane flew for around 10- 15 minutes until the landing was made.
Luckily, there were no injuries. The FAA sent an inspector to check out the plane.
Find out more from ABC News here.