DENVER — Passengers and crew members were evacuated from a jet at Denver International Airport on Saturday due to a problem with the aircraft’s landing gear, officials said.
American Airlines Flight 3023 reported a “possible landing gear incident” on the Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft during takeoff, the Federal Aviation Administration said. The problem involved an aircraft tire, American Airlines said in a statement.
The jet was carrying 173 passengers and six crew members and was headed to Miami International Airport. Data from the flight tracking website FlightRadar24 showed the plane reached a top speed of 150 mph before it slowed down.
The passengers used emergency slides to reach the runway while smoke came from the jet.
One person was taken to an area hospital with minor injuries, officials said. Some passengers, including at least one adult carrying a young child, tripped at the end of the slide and fell onto the concrete runway.
Passengers evacuated onto the runway via emergency slide after an American Airlines flight aborted its takeoff on the runway in Denver on Saturday. One person was taken to the hospital with minor injuries, officials said. https://t.co/CNmd2Zh2lN pic.twitter.com/jRhQwbx4r9
— ABC News (@ABC) July 28, 2025
“About halfway to takeoff speed, we hear a big bang and a pop,” Shaun Williams, a passenger traveling with his family, told KUSA-TV. “The pilot immediately started abort procedures for taking off. You could feel him start to hit the brakes.”
Mark Tsurkis, a passenger who lives in Miami and Colorado Springs, told WFOR-TV that he was “coming from one home to another home” when the incident occurred.
“During the speed-up, when the plane almost took off, we heard a loud boom, and I said ‘That’s not good,’” he told the television station. “It was definitely an unpleasant moment, but we were lucky that we didn’t get up in the air yet, so we weren’t airborne just yet, but I would imagine that it happened five to 10 seconds before we were airborne.”
Shay Armistead, 17, from Minturn, Colorado, told The Associated Press that the aircraft started to violently shake and we were drifting to the left side of the runway."
Hundreds of flights were delayed Saturday after the runway response, with 435 flight delays and 14 cancellations as of 5 p.m. MT, The Denver Post reported, citing the flight tracking website FlightAware.
“American Airlines flight 3023 experienced a maintenance issue prior to takeoff at Denver International Airport (DEN),” the airline said in a statement. “All customers and crew deplaned safely, and the aircraft was taken out of service to be inspected by our maintenance team.
“We thank our team members for their professionalism and apologize to our customers for their experience.”
Passengers were rerouted to another aircraft, and it landed in Miami early Sunday.
The FAA is investigating the incident.
It was the second time this year that an American Airlines flight out of Denver had problems. In March, a Boeing 737-800 aircraft that took off from Colorado Springs had to make an emergency landing at Denver International Airport after one of the engines caught fire.
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