CHARLOTTE, N.C. — An American Airlines flight leaving Las Vegas for Charlotte flight headed to Charlotte had to make an emergency landing Wednesday morning soon after departure leaving Las Vegas because of a smoking engine, according to multiple media reports.

American Airlines flight 1665 left Harry Reid International Airport in Nevada a little after 8 a.m. It returned to Las Vegas shortly after takeoff when smoke was observed coming from one of the plane’s engines, WBTV reported.

After landing, the plane was taxied back to a gate under its own power and customers got off the plane normally, American Airlines told The Charlotte Observer. The plane returned to Las Vegas because of a mechanical issue.

The flight had more than 150 passengers and six crew members. No injuries were reported.

Lane Hayes, a North Carolina resident sitting a few rows behind the right wing, heard a popping noise that sounded like a gunshot, he told The New York Times. The popping noise continued and Hayes said he saw flashes of light coming from the engine where it was sparking, according to Hayes’ account.

“It was extremely tense,” he told the paper. “It felt like forever, and every time that the engine popped, it sounded like gunshots.”

The flight flew in a small loop and touched down 10 minutes after take off.

The FAA is investigating the incident, according to The New York Times.

An American Airlines maintenance team inspected the plane and found no evidence of a fire in the engine, according to the airline. The plane is being taken out of service and will be evaluated.

“We appreciate the professionalism of our crew and thank our team who are working to get our customers to their destinations as quickly as possible,” American Airlines stated.

Flight concerns and American Airlines

Airline safety has been on the forefront of people’s minds this year after a Washington, D.C., crash that killed 76 people in January.

In that incident, an Army Black Hawk helicopter collided with American Airlines Flight 5342 over the Potomac River. All 60 passengers and a Charlotte-based flight crew died on the commercial plane coming from Wichita, Kansas. The crash also took the lives of three people inside the military chopper.

In mid-March, two people died in a private plane crash near the Pitt-Greenville Airport in North Carolina, several minutes after leaving for Vero Beach, Florida.

And in April, a Delta flight coming from the Minneapolis-St. Paul region turned upside down on a runway in Toronto. All 76 passengers and four crew members survived the incident. But 21 people were treated for injuries.

More on Charlotte Douglas and American Airlines

Charlotte Douglas is the sixth busiest airport in the world for takeoffs and landings, according to Airports Council International preliminary rankings released in April.

The airport had 596,583 flights last year — an 11% increase from 2023 when the airport was seventh internationally.

CLT is the second largest hub for the Fort Worth, Texas-based American Airlines. It accounts for about 90% of all flights out of the airport. The airline offers thousands of daily flights to more than 350 destinations in more than 60 countries.

©2025 The Charlotte Observer. Visit at charlotteobserver.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.