There were some tense moments for passengers on board United Airlines Flight 1948 leaving Tampa International Airport bound for Houston on Monday.
Passengers were forced to evacuate after a blown tire caused a fire on the runway.
Katerina Karsante was one of the 131 passengers on board. She said they were on the runway just starting to taxi when they heard a loud "pop."
Karsante said she wasn't sitting in a window seat but people next to her told her they saw smoke and flames. She wasn't sure what was happening.
"You know with everything going on with planes these days, you have no control, you don't know what's happening. You can't just leave," she said.
Passengers were evacuated by stairs and then bused to the main terminal to be rebooked.
"I want to go home," said Karsante. "I'm here with a really big group of friends and I booked an early flight so I could be the first one home and now I'm going to be the last one home."
United Airlines issued the following statement:
"We are working as quickly as possible to get them on their way to Houston this evening. We will substitute another aircraft to operate the flight which is now scheduled to depart Tampa at 10 p.m."
The situation meant a delay of several hours and left some passengers frustrated about missing connections to get to their destinations.
"I won't get home until tomorrow. I have a dog that's being kenneled, there's another day there. We have no way to get home now because everyone's going to be working. I'd like my money refunded. I'd like to be compensated for this and nobody seems to be hearing us," said Mary Lewis, who was trying to get home to Portland, Oregon.
United Airlines did compensate some passengers who had to get a hotel room for the night.
No word on what caused the tire to blow out.