It’s not uncommon for aircraft to have technical issues that require a return to the origin airport. However, an American jet had an emergency a couple of days ago that I think is worth covering, for the interesting air traffic control audio, if nothing else (thanks to @xJonNYC for flagging this).
In this post:
An American jet’s dramatic DFW “mayday” call
This incident happened in the early morning hours of Monday, April 28, 2025, and involves American flight AA2332, scheduled to operate the short 312-mile journey from Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) to Amarillo (AMA). The flight was operated by a 22-year-old Airbus A320 with the registration code N601AW, with 96 people onboard.
The aircraft was supposed to depart at 10:39PM on Sunday, but ended up suffering a departure delay of roughly two hours, and became airborne at 12:43AM on Monday.
Shortly after the aircraft departed DFW, the pilots reported an emergency to the air traffic controller on frequency. “Mayday, mayday, mayday, American 2332, declaring an emergency, we got smoke in the cockpit, we’ll be returning to Dallas.” Smoke in the cockpit can potentially represent a serious risk, so it’s something that’s taken very seriously.
The subsequent communication with air traffic control was rough, as it seems that the pilots struggled to understand the instructions. It would appear that there was an issue with their radios, or something, because on multiple occasions they either don’t acknowledge what the controller said, or asked him to repeat what he said. The pilot was even apologetic for this, saying “sorry, we’re having a lot of trouble up here.” That’s not something you ever want to hear a pilot say!
It’s also possible that they were just focused on flying the plane. After all, the priority is to aviate, then navigate, and then communicate. However, that’s not the sense I got, based on how they talked.
One of the pilots informed the air traffic controller that they intended to stop on the runway, and asked for safety equipment to be rolled out. The plane ended up landing back at DFW at 1:01AM, just 18 minutes after it departed.
The priority for the pilots was to make sure that there was no sort of fire or other obvious issue with the aircraft. So once the plane landed, one of the pilots told the controller “we’ll sit here and we do need them to focus on the forward part of the airplane,” and that “we had a fume and light smoke event and we’re not sure if it was electrical related to our radios and avionics, or if it was something else, engine wise.”
So he requested that the emergency services first look at both of the engines, and then come up to the nose of the aircraft. Fortunately nothing was identified, and the plane was then able to safely taxi to a gate. The plane was only grounded for around 19 hours, before it reentered service.
You can listen to the air traffic control audio for yourself below, and it’s one of the more interesting interactions we’ve seen in some time.
Huge kudos to the pilots and controllers
Great job to the pilots for getting the plane safely on the ground. Obviously they were caught off guard by this emergency, and they handled the situation professionally, from the emergency as such, to their communication issues.
I think the air traffic controller also deserves a lot of credit. What a pro — he remained calm, supportive, and patient, obviously recognizing that the pilots were struggling with communicating. He communicated very clearly, and got the answers he needed, without bombarding the pilots.
When you combine these two parties, these are the types of professionals who keep our skies safe.
Bottom line
The pilots of an American Airbus A320 departing Dallas declared an emergency shortly after takeoff, due to smoke in the cockpit. You don’t like to hear pilots say “sorry, we’re having a lot of trouble up here,” but that’s exactly what happened here. It seems they had some issues with their radios as well, based on their challenges with communicating. Credit to the pilots and the air traffic controller for their professionalism.
What do you make of this American A320 cockpit smoke incident?
Lot of going on for these pilots. Checklists have to been run, they've got to navigate the plane, plan for an airport return and decide what should/needs to be communicated to flight attendants. You don't want a passenger to begin to totally freak out.