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WEEKLY NEWS 4: Plane Makes Emergency Landing

In Chicago on Thursday, an American Airlines jetliner made an emergency landing at O'Hare International Airport. The jetliner was forced to leave the air after its left engine caught fire, when a goose was sucked into the engine shortly after takeoff.

"The pilots saw birds,” said Mary Frances Fagan, a spokeswoman for the airline. “They tried to avoid them, but there's only so much you can do.”

The plane was an MD-80 and carrying 112 people. The jetliner landed safely and there were no injuries, Fagan said.

The plane was heading to Philadelphia, and as it rose higher into the air, people on the ground said they heard what sounded like an explosion overhead. They reported seeing flames shooting from the engine, Chicago Fire Department officials said.

Authorities searching in neighborhoods around the O’Hare airport said they found metal debris they believed had fallen from the jetliner. However, no injuries or damages were reported on the ground. The manager of a UPS store, Mohammed Ansari, said a piece of the debris fell and hit near his store.

"One of my customers said he was inside his house and it made a lot of noise when it landed," he said. (contributing: newsday.com)

--Written by Anna Ferguson

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