A small plane carrying two people caught fire in its engine compartment near San Jose on Monday, filling the cockpit with smoke that left those aboard struggling to breathe and see before the aircraft touched down safely. San Jose Fire Department firefighters rushed to the scene at San Jose Mineta International Airport after reports of the aircraft emergency came in.
Firefighters responded at 11:37 a.m. to reports of the aircraft emergency, according to KRON4. Crews had the fire under control just 10 minutes later, by 11:47 a.m. The outlet reported that the engine fire filled the cockpit with smoke, causing breathing and visibility issues for those aboard, but the plane was still able to land safely.
Passengers Still Being Evaluated
Fire officials said the two people aboard were still being assessed in the aftermath of the landing, per the same report. No further details on the extent of any injuries, the cause of the engine fire, or the aircraft itself have been released.
Monday's scare adds to a string of small-plane incidents that have rattled the South Bay in recent weeks. On Oct. 17, a Cessna crash-landed near Capitol Expressway and Excalibur Drive after its pilot reported engine trouble, according to the Mercury News. Two adults and a child from that crash were taken to a hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening, the San Jose Fire Department told CBS News Bay Area.
A Pattern, or Just Coincidence?
Just a day before that crash, on Oct. 16, another plane crash-landed at Reid-Hillview Airport because of faulty landing gear, the Mercury News reported. Flight instructor Steve Philipson told the outlet that having two Bay Area incidents within a 24-hour span is pretty unusual, though he also cautioned that random distribution of events can still produce such clusters.
The Mercury News report also pointed to broader federal numbers for context: the NTSB tracked 1,201 U.S. civil aviation accidents in 2024, including seven in the Bay Area, with 188 of those accidents nationwide resulting in fatalities and 321 deaths overall.
Not the First Engine Scare at the Airport
San Jose Mineta International Airport has seen engine fires before. In a separate past incident, fire crews were called to Terminal A's Gate 7 at 7:54 a.m. after a report of a plane engine fire, according to ABC7 News. That aircraft was identified as Delta Air Lines Flight 1056, an MD-90 that had pushed back from the gate at 6:40 a.m. for a scheduled flight to Minneapolis.
In that case, the pilot reported a possible engine fire, and the plane returned to the gate so passengers could be taken off; no injuries were reported. A fire captain said at the time that the fire had been contained to the engine and did not spread into the cabin, the station reported.
No cause has been determined for Monday's engine fire, and it remains unclear what condition the two people aboard were in as fire officials continued their assessment.
