A United Airlines flight from Denver carrying 115 passengers and six crew members slid off the runway at the Jackson Hole Airport on Monday night, resulting in an engine fire and one minor injury.

All on the plane had to use emergency exits with inflated slides to escape. At least one passenger reported seeing and smelling smoke inside, although the brief blaze was confined to one engine.

United Flight 267 was landing from the north at 9:14 p.m. when the plane began to skid, ultimately going onto the runway’s safety apron and off the west side of the runway into about five feet of snow, according to officials. The plane is an Airbus A320 and can hold 156 passengers when filled.

The dense snow caught the airplane’s right landing gear and spun the plane about 120 degrees until it faced northwest. Both of the plane’s engines ingested snow, and the right engine briefly caught fire. One of the plane’s left wheels was flat the following morning.

There was no immediate explanation of the cause, whether the pilot landed long or fast, or whether the slide-off was due to equipment failure.

The incident is the fourth time an airplane has gone off the runway since December. Two weeks ago, a SkyWest CRJ700 was involved in a less serious mishap.

According to Jackson Hole Airport Manager Ray Bishop, airport rescue personnel were on the scene at 9:16 p.m. The flight crew deployed inflatable ramps from all six of the aircraft’s emergency exits.

One of the ramps failed to inflate properly, but all 121 passengers and crew successfully evacuated the airplane using the other five. Many had to tromp through deep snow and up the plowed runway to the airport terminal.

While attempting to open an emergency exit, one passenger injured a wrist. The passenger declined treatment on the scene and drove to the St. John’s Medical Center emergency room.

According to passenger Andrea Matthews, a Wilson resident, the plane came in for a landing after leaving Denver two hours later than scheduled.

“Everybody was tired and anxious to get their [destinations],” she said. “When we got to the end of the runway [the plane] started skidding. We weren’t going really fast. We were getting close to having stopped. The plane lost traction and we fishtailed once or twice and went into the banks.”

Matthews, who was sitting in the last row in the right had window seat, said that when the plane came to a stop, none of the passengers spoke. The captain then came over the intercom and asked if everyone was OK.


Time to run

Then a man called out that the engine was on fire.

“The message was clear that we better get out of there in a hurry,” Matthews said. “When it turned from a fun ride to possibly having the plane explode, I got a little adrenaline rush.”

The flight crew then opened the back doors and deployed the chutes. “Everyone was very calm,” she said. “[The flight crew] did their jobs perfectly.”

The flight attendants told Matthews to go down the ramp feet first and then help people stand up at the bottom. Matthews then helped direct people to the Jackson Hole Aviation buildings.

“Once we were out there, somebody was yelling ‘Move away from the plane!” she said. “I told everybody to head for Jackson Hole Aviation. By the time we were getting out, the fire trucks were coming.”

According to Silver Dollar Bar employee and Jackson resident Paul Cockrell, 34, as soon as the plane landed an off-duty pilot he was sitting next to in row 17 said, “The guy better get on the brakes.’”

“There was a burst of smoke near the right wing,” Cockrell continued. “We made an abrupt right turn and came to a stop. Something around the wing area caught on fire.”

Cockrell said flames were coming over the wing and flight attendants told the passengers, “Run! Leave your stuff and run!”

“When the plane is burning, 17 rows back is pretty far back,” Cockrell said.

Cockrell said the snow outside was deep, and he had to post-hole to the “ice-covered tarmac.”

Another passenger, Teton Village resident Pat Mahin, was sitting on the left side of the plane next to the wing. When the plane landed, Mahin said, he told the person sitting next to him that he’d never heard the reverse thruster engines so loud during a landing.

“Then we hit a bump,” said Mahin. “I joked we must have hit a deer. Then we were going sideways and snow was splashing against the window.”

Mahin said that he, like the rest of the passengers, was calm at first. “Then this guy says there’s smoke and flames,” said Mahin.

Excitement came when he saw smoke in the back of the passenger compartment, Mahin said.

“It smelled electrical,” he said. “I said, ‘You guys be calm, I’m getting off this bloody thing.

“I jumped out the door onto the wing,” Mahin continued. “It was easy. They had this little slide. I loved it. It was like a big rush. It was like a big roller coaster ride.”

Like Matthews, Mahin said he didn’t hear anybody panic or get overexcited. Matthews did report at least one small child on the flight was crying briefly after the incident.

Mahin also reported seeing ice on the runway.

According to airport operations manager Chris Logan, officials conducted a friction test on the runway and came back with a rating of 65. “That’s basically bare asphalt,” said Logan. “Braking action was good.”

Logan said rescue personnel responded with four vehicles and five people. Logan said fire crews on the scene didn’t need to extinguish the fire. Further, he said the pilot didn’t activate an onboard system that would shoot a fire retardant into the engine.

“We didn’t expend any agent to put out the fire,” he said. “The flight crew didn’t expend any agent to put out the fire.”

The following morning, the intakes and reverse thruster outtakes on both engines were clogged with snow. A black film covered portions of the plane’s right wing and engine. Logan said the fire was consistent with a “compressor stall.”


Tower was closed

Both Bishop and Logan said the control tower was closed at the time of the incident, and first responders had to radio an incoming SkyWest flight to warn it not to land.

“It really compounds our workload when the tower is closed,” said Logan.

Bishop explained that the airport officials have asked the Federal Aviation Administration for permission to keep the tower open longer but have thus far been denied. “We have said we would feel more comfortable” if the tower would operate longer,  Bishop said.

Logan called the response “a team effort.”

“It wasn’t perfect,” said Bishop. “But it was really close to perfect. Everyone was in place and doing what they needed to do.”

Bishop said the plane’s two engines would likely be expensive to fix or replace. Monetarily, he said, “it’s much more serious than what we’ve seen since I’ve been here.”

Peter Knudson, spokesman National Transportation Safety Board, said two investigators are currently on the way to Jackson Hole Airport. “We’re investigating it,” he said. “We’ve really got to get on the scene to gather information.”

Megan McCarthy, spokeswoman for United Airlines, said the airline will conduct its own probe. “Our maintenance team will do a complete investigation, a complete inspection of the aircraft and then we will make repairs,” she said.

McCarthy said she wasn’t sure if or how long the airline would keep the flight crew and pilots grounded. “We’ll do a complete investigation and we’ll have those discussions with our pilots and flight attendants that were on the aircraft.”

Currently, the airline is working to return luggage to passengers on the flight. Some passengers said they had to go to the airport themselves to pick up their bags.

McCarthy said United will offer each passenger a voucher good for between $250 and $350 toward another flight.

Passengers said the jet had been held up in Denver awaiting arrival of the flight crew, and were told they had come from a flight from Mexico.


– Angus Thuermer contributed to this story.