FedEx plane catches fire midair before making emergency landing at Newark Airport | Watch video

A FedEx cargo plane made an emergency landing at Newark Airport in New Jersey on Saturday morning following a bird strike caused one of its engines to catch fire, Fox News Digital quoted an airport official as saying.

Video shows the plane banking right when it lets off a large plume of smoke as fire appears from its right engine.

Audio recorded by LiveATC captured a person calmly saying the aircraft needed to ‘shut down for a possible bird strike’ immediately, reported AP. “We need to return to the airport,” AP quoted the LiveATC personnal as saying. 

Moments later, another person is heard saying: “We believe we saw their engine fall off the right wing.” The audio indicates the strike happened when the plane was several hundred feet off the ground.

The plane landed at Newark Liberty International Airport during the emergency, PTI quoted Lenis Valens, a spokesperson for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey as saying, who added that no injuries were reported. Fire on the cargo plane was contained to the engine, Valens said.

Following the emergency landing, air traffic was briefly halted as a precaution, and operations resumed shortly after, Valen said. The emergency landing happened just after 8 am.

A spokesperson for FedEx said the plane was headed for Indianapolis.

"Our crew declared an emergency and returned safely to Newark. We are thankful for the quick actions of our crew and first responders,” PTI quoted said FedEx spokesperson Austin Kemker as saying.

Previous instances:

In past one month, there have been four major aviation disasters in North America. They include the February 6 crash of a commuter plane in Alaska that killed all 10 people on board and the January 26 midair collision between an Army helicopter and an American Airlines flight at National Airport that killed all 67 aboard the two aircraft.

With agency inputs.