A Frontier Airlines aircraft had a terrifying flight yesterday. Initially we only had a video to go off of, but now that more details are emerging, this whole situation sounds even more serious. It’s great that this had a positive ending, and it’s a reminder of how safe and well built aircraft are.
In this post:
Frontier jet lands in Las Vegas in flames
This incident happened on Saturday, October 5, 2024, and involves Frontier Airlines flight F91326, flying from San Diego (SAN) to Las Vegas (LAS). The flight was operated by a nine-year-old Airbus A321 with the registration code N701FR, and had 197 people onboard, including 190 passengers and seven crew members.
This short 51-minute flight was anything but uneventful. As the aircraft began descending, the pilots declared an emergency, and reported to air traffic control that there was smoke in the cabin and cockpit.
A short time later, the pilots lost radio communication, so verbal communication was one-way. Fortunately the pilots were able to hear air traffic control, and the pilots confirmed they understood what was going on by using the IDENT feature, which essentially allows pilots to transit a special signal.
Air traffic control of course gave this aircraft priority for landing. At 3:10PM local time, the jet touched down at Las Vegas Harry Reid International Airport on runway 26L. At this point, massive flames came from the aircraft’s right rear gear. The aircraft then came to a stop on the runway, and emergency workers sprayed the jet to extinguish any flames and prevent a further fire.
Once the situation was under control, passengers were evacuated from the jet via stairs, and there were no injuries. As you’d expect, the aircraft is still on the ground in Las Vegas, and I imagine it’ll be out of service for some time.
Below you can see a video of the landing.
And below you can see the excellent VASAviation video about the air traffic control communication, plus a visualization of the location of the aircraft (that channel does such an incredible job).
What actually happened here?!?
As of now, there are a lot more questions than answers when it comes to this incident. The airline states that “the cause of the incident is currently under investigation,” and that “the pilots detected smoke and declared an emergency.” Meanwhile a spokesperson for the airport states that the flight “experienced a hard landing.”
According to a passenger on the flight who was interviewed for the local news in Las Vegas, the crew didn’t inform passengers of any emergency prior to landing (which is surprising if true). He claims the landing was indeed hard, and that he saw the fire trucks as they landed, and assumed it wasn’t for their plane.
This was most definitely not a minor incident. I mean, there was smoke in the cockpit while the plane was on approach, the pilots lost radio communication, and then the gear caught fire on landing.
Huge kudos to the pilots for their performance here, and to the air traffic controllers and emergency services for their professionalism. Listening to the air traffic control audio once the plane is on the ground (and the pilots are able to communicate again), you can’t help but notice just how shaken they sound, understandably.
Often in emergencies you hear pilots communicating as if they’re talking about what they’re going to have for dinner, but you can hear the voice of one of the pilots trembling… and I don’t blame him!
Bottom line
A Frontier Airlines Airbus jet had a scary approach to Las Vegas yesterday. The pilots declared an emergency due to smoke being detected, then the pilots lost radio communication. Then when the jet landed, the gear caught fire. I don’t know what happened here, but this is one investigation I’m looking forward to reading about.
What do you make of this Frontier Airlines incident?
I often refer to Airbuses as flaming dumpsters. Glad that one of them proved the name is true.
Seems like whatever happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, and that includes a damaged Airbus.
Nice touch to start a Vegas trip with some real fireworks, though!