Viral Video: United Airlines plane's engine bursts into flames mid-air, forced to make emergency landing due to THIS reason

A United Airlines plane was forced to make an emergency landing after one of its engines caught fire due to a rare cause -- a rabbit strike. The flight was on way from the Denver International Airport in Colorado to Edmonton in Alberta, Canada. However, its engine burst into flames just moments after takeoff, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The fire appeared to have started after a rabbit got sucked into the engine before the aircraft took off.

'Rabbit through number two'
"United 2325, it looks like you got, every once in a while, little bursts of flame coming out of the right engine," an official was heard saying over the radio as reported by Fox8. To that, a crew member replied, "We think we lost our right motor." The pilot said, "Rabbit through the number two (engine), that'll do it."

Nearly 160 onboard
The aircraft, carrying 153 passengers and six crew members, returned to Denver around 8:05 pm. The passengers were then transferred to another plane and flown to the Canadian city.

'My stomach dropped'
One of the passengers told ABC News that he heard a loud bang when the rabbit was gobbled by the engine, followed by a significant vibration in the plane. Another passenger shared his experience saying he thought the plane was going to crash. "My stomach dropped and I just thought I'm going to see a plane go down," he said.

Extremely rare incident
Rabbit strikes are extremely rare on flights with only four being reported last year, according to the FAA, which has launched an investigation into the incident.

United Airlines flight engine catches fire after takeoff due to a rare RABBIT strike pic.twitter.com/D3Ne0SfsuN

— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) April 16, 2025