Should Strong Men Have Waited at The Bottom of The Evacuation Slide When This American Airlines Flight Caught Fire on The Runway?

ABC News – Passengers on an American Airlines flight evacuated onto the runway via emergency slides after the plane aborted its takeoff on the runway in Denver on Saturday. One person was taken to the hospital with minor injuries, officials said.

American Airlines flight 3023, which was headed to Miami, reported a "possible landing gear incident during departure," according to the Federal Aviation Administration, which is investigating the incident.

In air traffic control audio obtained from LiveATC.net, the pilot told the controller they were "aborting on the runway." The controller told the pilot, "You got a lot of smoke." A moment later, the controller said, "There was some flames, it looks like the smoke's kind of dying down a bit."

Mark Tsurkis, 50, a passenger aboard the flight, told ABC News he heard "a loud boom," as the plane was about to take off.

"I said, 'That's not good,'" Tsurkis said, at which point the plane began to slow down, he said, and passengers could see one of the wheels pass by.

According to the Denver International Airport, the plane was met by first responders. The Denver Fire Department said it extinguished a fire on the plane. The airport said six people were evaluated and one was taken to the hospital. The airline said the person transported had minor injuries.

Plane fire. They always tell you that takeoffs and landings are the most dangerous parts of a flight. And of course this plane is a Boeing 737. Fun Fact: 25% of all Boeing flights in 2025 have burst into flames at some point during the trip. It's true. Thankfully, in this situation, nobody was seriously hurt. One person was taken to the hospital with minor injuries. Even more thankfully, one courageous passenger remained calm, cool, and collected enough to wait at the bottom of the smoking plane and record a viral video. 

Quick-ish story (2 paragraphs). I was once living in an apartment building in Toledo, Ohio that caught fire. Everything turned out fine, but it was a legitimate fire. The halls filled with smoke to the point that it was tough to breathe. The fire alarm went off, I hustled out my door, and when I got to the stairs, the old man who lived in the basement unit across the hall from me was very slowly making his up to the first level. I skirted right by that guy. Didn't even cross my mind to do anything else. They were wide stairs, so it's not like I had to push him aside or anything. It was also no more than 8 steps, and the exit was right at the top. But as soon as I got to the door I had the realization, "Holy shit that was fucked up wasn't it..."

So I DID turn around to make sure the man was ok. He was fine. I don't think he was even really struggling, he was just slow and old. And I held the door open for him once I could breathe clean air. Honestly, I'm not sure what I really could have done to help him. But I still should have waited to make sure he didn't fall or anything. Had I turned around to see him lying face down on the steps, I'd like to think I would have gone to save him. But I came to the realization that day that I would be terrible in a crisis. Turns out all those times I sat in class plotting how I would tackle a school shooter and apprehend his gun wasn't a realistic imagination of how I'd react in a life-threatening emergency. So you'll never find me online berating people too much for being gigantic pussies when escaping a fire. I don't have much of a leg to stand on in that regard. 

But still... Among the Wildflows (@deaflibertarian) doesn't make the worst point. It's almost like the brave souls who paid extra to sit in the exit rows were only in it for the leg room. 

It does look like there's someone inside of the plane at the top of the slide (appears to be an employee) who is at least helping the passengers get onto the slide. That's the most important part. But I'd think at least one person, if for no other reason than realizing, "Oh shit... this video is gonna be on the news... if I go stand at the bottom of the slide and catch people, I'm going to get so much hero pussy." 

The only guy who I will shame is the camera man. Although... I am profiting off his video right now... so thank you. Me and the camera man are basically the Spider-Man meme right now.

But if a person if comfortable enough to stand there and film incident, they clearly aren't in panic mode. They don't seem to be worried that the plane is about to explode. Whenever you're filming something, it's always a good idea to think to yourself, "Is there anything I can do to help right now?"

Because if there's anything at all, that's the first thing people are going to point out when your disaster video is seen by millions of people. 

But again, everybody was fine. And in defense of all the "strong men" who did not wait at the bottom of the slide to help, I bet the thought of helping never even crossed their minds. Because if anybody should know their way around a slide, it's kids. Notice how none of the children had a problem with the slide. It was only the adults who fell flat on their faces. 

Not to fire escapee shame any parents here, but the only kid in that video who got hurt was the young girl whose dad (or whatever the relation is) tried to slide down while carrying her in one arm. 

In general, the more strong men you throw into a slide situation, the more liable someone is to get hurt. The evidence is insurmountable.

It was a big time missed opportunity for any of these so called strong men to have millions of people applaud them for their heroism. But let's be real, had there been a couple of strong men lending their muscles at the bottom of that slide, who knows how things would have turned out. The two men might start fighting over who's saving children the best. Halfway through the evacuation they start wrestling each other. One man pulls a knife and accidentally pops the slide. Suddenly an incident that should have ended with, "one person taken to the hospital with minor injuries" turns into one of those Netflix Trainwreck documentaries. 

But in the end, it was good evacuation, and nobody was seriously hurt. All's well that ends well.