The pilot of an American Airlines MD-80 bound for Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport aborted his takeoff Friday after an engine failure on a Phoenix runway.
Flight 806 out of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport was taking off at about 10:30 a.m. when the engine failed, spewing pieces of metal across the runway.
"All of a sudden, it's like we lost acceleration," passenger Tim Johnson said. "Some of the lights started blinking. Some alarms started going off, and we just went to kind of a rolling coast."
The pilot aborted the takeoff run and taxied back to the gate, where the passengers were deplaned, according to FAA spokesman Ian Gregor.
"First, we thought it was a flat tire in the plane that couldn't take off, and we were just thankful that it had happened while we were still on the ground," passenger Paula Scoggins said.
The failure left Sky Harbor with only one available runway for about 90 minutes, sparking a significant slowdown at the airport while workers began to clear the debris off the runway. The airport's south runway is closed because of construction, so the north runway was the only one available while the center runway was cleared, airline spokeswoman Debrorah Ostreicher said.
Shortly after 1 p.m., Sky Harbor reopened the runway.
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NBCDFW's Julie Tam contributed to this report.
