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 Fifteen people were injured, one seriously, as 101 passengers and
crew evacuated the Dynamic International Airways' Boeing 767-200ER
within minutes of the pilots realizing there was a problem.
Television images showed the plane surrounded by white foam and
firefighters' trucks in Fort Lauderdale, its left engine badly
charred.
The 29-year-old aircraft was leaking fuel before departure, the
Federal Aviation Administration said, and its crew was warned about
the leak by a jet taxiing behind it.
In video shot by a passenger on another plane, towering clouds of
thick gray smoke could be seen billowing from the Dynamic flight
before the blaze was extinguished. (Video: http://reut.rs/1P8bvzk)
Most of the injuries were bumps and bruises, Michael Jachles, a
spokesman for the Broward Sheriff's Office, told reporters. One
child was among those being treated at Broward Health Medical
Center, a hospital spokeswoman said.
Luis Campana, a 71-year-old rancher, was traveling to Venezuela's
Guarico state with his wife and sister.
"It was a real scare," Campana told Reuters at Fort
Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. He said he had been
sitting near the front of the plane as the pilot put the thrust on
to taxi up the runway.
"The engine exploded. As we were getting out of the plane down the
chute, the smoke was beginning to enter and the engine was in
flames," he said.
The accident could have been catastrophic had the jet taken off with
a fuel leak, Greg Feith, a former crash investigator for the
National Transportation Safety Board, told Reuters.
"Once the aircraft is airborne, it becomes a flying blowtorch,"
Feith said. "The fire intensifies and you don't know what system or
structure it's going to burn through."
Fire could damage a wing and fuselage, or cripple hydraulic and
electronic control systems, Feith said, potentially making an
emergency landing impossible. It could also ignite fuel tanks in the
wings, especially if fuel vapor were present, he said.
"ENGINE'S ON FIRE!"
Flight crew audio broadcast by CNN captured the moments those on the
Venezuela-bound jet were warned of the danger.
"Hey, yeah, Dynamic, the left engine looks like it's leaking, I
don't know, a lot of fuel. There is fluid leaking out of the left
engine," a voice can be heard saying.
 A short time later another voice says, "Engine's on fire! Engine's
on fire! We're calling the fire engine right now."
Officials got a call at 12:34 p.m. EDT (1634 GMT) that Dynamic
Airways flight 405 experienced a left engine fire while taxiing on
one of the airport's two runways.
Passengers had been completely evacuated by 12:37 p.m., Jachles of
the sheriff's office told a news conference.
The airport reopened about three hours later.
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Natalia Vargas, 50, said her 75-year-old mother phoned her from the
plane and said there had been two strong explosions.
"There was a lot of smoke," said Vargas, who lives in Miami and is
originally from Venezuela. "Everyone was very nervous, but everyone
was off the plane quickly," she said.
The fire came less than two months after an engine on a British
Airways jetliner caught fire in Las Vegas as the plane was about to
take off for London, forcing all 172 passengers and crew to escape
down emergency slides.
The NTSB is sending four people to Fort Lauderdale to investigate
the latest fire, the agency said.
Feith, the former NTSB investigator, said they will try to determine
the source of the fire and why it caused so much damage, and could
recommend modifications to the 767 fleet and general airline
procedures to prevent a recurrence.
Greensboro, North Carolina-based Dynamic said it has operated
wide-body aircraft since 2009 and will investigate the fire.
The carrier flies from Fort Lauderdale and New York's JFK airport to
Caracas and Maracaibo in Venezuela, as well as to Georgetown in
neighboring Guyana, according to its website.
Dynamic said it was arranging accommodation and transport for all
the passengers impacted, and that it expects to continue operations
as per its schedule on Friday.
The plane was powered by Pratt & Whitney JT9D engines, said a
spokeswoman from Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp
<UTX.N>. Boeing Co <BA.N> said in a statement it is providing
technical assistance to the NTSB investigation.
Dynamic's 767-200ER was built in 1986, and only seven such planes of
that age or older remain in service out of 65 built, according to
aircraft appraisal firm Collateral Verifications.
(Additional reporting by David Adams in Miami; Susan Heavey and Tim
Ahmann in Washington; Letitia Stein in Tampa, Florida; Suzannah
Gonzales and Jeffrey Dastin in New York; Colleen Jenkins in
Winston-Salem, North Carolina; and Alwyn Scott in Seattle; Writing
by Daniel Wallis; Editing by G Crosse and Lisa Shumaker)
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