Flight attendants on a United Airlines Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner carried out a textbook evacuation at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on Monday morning after the plane made an emergency landing just minutes after takeoff, amidst reports of an engine fire.
Passengers evacuated onto the tarmac via inflatable slides and a set of mobile airstairs as black smoke could be seen billowing from the left-hand GEnx turbofan engine.
🚨Exclusive video: A United 787 lands at LAX and emergency slides are deployed—engine catches fire after landing! Seen live on Airline Videos Live, March 2nd, 2026. pic.twitter.com/GlgnDUHTVx
— AIRLINE VIDEOS (@airlinevideos) March 2, 2026
The incident occurred at around 11:20 am on March 2, just minutes after United Airlines flight UA-2127, bound for Newark (EWR), departed Los Angeles, for what should have been a routine four and a half hour transcontinental flight to New York.
Instead, the aircraft (registration: N24972) climbed to a maximum altitude of just 18,000 feet before the pilots declared an emergency and requested an immediate return to LAX, where first responders had been put on alert for the plane’s arrival.
The emergency landing and subsequent evacuation were captured on video by the Los Angeles-based ‘Airlines Video Live’ account on X.
After coming to a stop on the tarmac, a set of mobile airstairs were positoned at the forward right-hand door for what was planned to be an orderly disembarkation by stairs.
Moments later, however, a full-scale evacuation was ordered, and evacuation slides were activated at the three other exits on the right-hand side of the aircraft.
In what appears to be a textbook example of an emergency evacuation, passengers were seen coming down the slides in quick succession without any hand luggage in sight.
The vast majority of the 256 passengers on the packed aircraft were evacuated in less than one minute – significantly less time than the FAA-mandated 90-second evacuation rule, which has not been achieved in a wave of recent evacuations.
It should also be noted that the evacuation was carried out with only half of the available emergency exits in use – a decision that appears to have been taken because of the danger posed by the smoking engine on the left-hand side of the airplane.
There’s still no official confirmation of the exact issue with the faulty engine, but in a statement, a spokesperson for United Airlines told PYOK:
“United flight 2127 safely returned to Los Angeles to address an issue with one of the engines. Customers deplaned via slides and airstairs and were bused to the terminal.”
The statement added: “There are no reported injuries at this time. We’re working to get our customers to their final destinations.”
The Federal Aviation Administration is expected to investigate the circumstances of Monday’s incident.
Last month, a critical department within the FAA that provides oversight of maintenance practices at United Airlines was slammed in a report by the US Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General.
The report concluded that the department was understaffed and relied upon ‘virtual’ inspections rather than postponing the work in accordance with its own regulations.
Known officially as the FAA’s Certificate Management Office, the audit found that it lacked adequate resources, didn’t have enough inspectors, suffered from high staff turnover, lacked institutional knowledge, and had ineffective workforce planning.
Matt’s take – an extraordinary emergency evacuation
As a serving flight attendant, it’s difficult for me to stress how much this evacuation looks like a masterclass in how it should be done. The emergency slides were activated in coordination, and passengers were directed down the slides in quick succession, without taking their hand luggage.
It’s a stark contrast to many recent evacuations, which have appeared disorderly; passengers have slowed down the flow by stopping to take their belongings, and emergency slides have been opened into obvious danger.
