Flight returns to Las Vegas airport after smoke seen from engine — VIDEO
An American Airlines flight bound for Charlotte, North Carolina, was forced to return to Harry Reid International Airport on Wednesday morning after smoke was seen coming out of an engine.
Flight 1665 — an Airbus A321 — left Reid at 7:57 a.m. with 153 passengers and six crew members and landed safely at the airport at 8:23 a.m., according to airport spokesperson Luke Nimmo, FlightAware reports and American Airlines.
“American Airlines flight 1665 returned to Las Vegas (LAS) shortly after takeoff due to a mechanical issue,” an American spokesperson said in an email. “The aircraft taxied to the gate under its own power and customers deplaned normally.
“We appreciate the professionalism of our crew and thank our team who are working to get our customers to their destinations as quickly as possible.”
Witnesses reported seeing flames and smoke coming from the plane.
Richard Pedrosa, a construction site flagger working at Ninth Street and Oakey Boulevard, said he heard a loud “bang” before looking in the sky toward the Stratosphere with his coworkers and seeing a white plane with its engine on fire. He said the plane made a sequence of back-to-back “booms” before making a circle and turning around back toward the airport.
“I was like, ‘Oh my god, it’s going to explode,’ ” Pedrosa said. “I was kind of scared because that’s the first time I’ve ever seen that, and I was hoping and praying that everybody was OK on the airplane.”
My parents are in Vegas right now a planes engines caught fire right after take off.. pic.twitter.com/4VydQZQ0XE
— Special Agent Haley Jackson (@milkhj) June 25, 2025
An earlier version of this story listed incorrect takeoff and landing times.
Contact Tony Garcia at tgarcia@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0307. Follow @TonyGLVNews on X. Contact Spencer Levering at slevering@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0253.
