Engine Problem and Medical Emergency Delay Chicago-Bound Southwest Flight

A Southwest Airlines flight from Baltimore to Chicago was delayed by three hours on April 20 after an engine problem and a medical emergency.

Southwest told Storyful that the flight returned to its gate because of a medical situation. “While at the gate, the pilots reported an issue with the aircraft’s auxiliary power unit. Mechanics were called out to take a look at it and fix any issues with it,” they said.

Dennis Quiros, who was on board the plane and recorded this video, spoke to NBC Chicago. “We were backed out of the gate and were headed to the runway, when all of a sudden the plane came to a very abrupt stop,” he said. “It seems as though the right engine was not firing up again. And there was smoke from them trying to start it.”

The incident came just days after a woman was killed on a Southwest flight that had to make an emergency landing in Philadelphia when an engine exploded.

Quiros praised the the pilots and staff who, he told NBC, “did a great job not only attending to the medical emergency but also realizing the plane was not up to flying conditions.”

The flight, which had been due for takeoff at 6:29 am, departed at 9.17, according to flight-tracking data, and arrived almost three hours late, at 10.20. Credit: Dennis Quiros via Storyful