Spirit Airlines fire stemmed from engine failure

Spirit Airlines fire on an Atlanta bound jet had an engine that sustained an especially serious type of engine failure, an NTSB official said Wednesday. The Spirit Airlines fire caused no injuries, and the plane made a safe emergency landing. 

An engine on an Atlanta-bound Spirit Airlines jet where passengers said they heard an explosion and saw flames sustained an especially serious type of failure, a National Transportation Safety Board official said Wednesday.

Although originally characterized as an "uncontained" engine failure, the NTSB later reversed itself and said that, upon examination, the failure was contained and the engine casing wasn't pierced. A contained failure is less dangerous than an uncontained one because broken pieces and parts of the engine do not escape the outer engine housing and can't spray the fuselage with debris.

The plane returned to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on Tuesday and landed safely.

Passenger Fred Edwards told WGCL-TV in Atlanta that he heard an explosion before flames came up the side of the plane, lighting up the interior of the Airbus A319. He and other passengers reported that smoke then filled the cabin.

Spirit spokeswoman Misty Pinson said no injuries were reported. She said the captain received an indication of a "possible mechanical issue" shortly after takeoff from the Dallas-Fort Worth airport. She said by email Wednesday that there was no fire, before adding later that Spirit is "actively investigating to confirm the specifics of what happened and the cause."

The passengers were placed on another Spirit jet for Atlanta later Tuesday.

Aircraft engines are designed to contain any broken pieces within the engine during a failure. That's because when parts are released, they often spray like shrapnel and cause severe damage to fuel lines, electrical cables, hydraulic lines and other critical aircraft systems.Airliners are capable of safely flying with only one engine if the other engine breaks down or has to be shut off, but damage from an uncontained engine failure can jeopardize the plane.

Despite the government shutdown, NTSB is recalling furloughed investigators to open an investigation of the incident, the agency official said.

Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Laura Brown confirmed the agency is investigating the incident as well.

[Update: The original headline to this story read "Spirit Airlines fire stemmed from 'uncontained' engine failure." The NTSB released a statement after this story first ran backtracking on that initial statement. The headline and the text have been updated to reflect that.]