A United Express flight from Denver to Kansas City was forced to return to DIA after one of its tires blew on takeoff.
The drama played out Saturday morning and involved a operating as Flight 4870,
The turbo-prop circled to burn off fuel before the plane made a successful landing at 10:55 a.m., according to passenger Danny Dodge.
The plane was kept on the runway and 71 passengers and crew had to deplane and board buses.
The incident closed the runway until the plane could be towed but DIA has 5 others so operations weren’t affected.
The flight is operated by Republic Airways for United Express, which lists the aircraft as a Bombardier Q 400. The Bombardier Dash 8 or Q-Series is a series of twin-engined, medium range, turboprop airliners. Introduced by de Havilland Canada in 1984, they are now produced by Bombardier Aerospace.
var p = new anv_pl_def(); p.config = {}; p.config.width = 740; p.config.height = 450; p.loadVideoExpressV3(‘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|1000011|SPS’);