ORLANDO, Fla. — Passengers on a Delta Airlines flight leaving from the Orlando International Airport on Monday were evacuated prior to liftoff after officials said an engine caught fire.

According to the airline, crews noticed flames in the tailpipe of one of the aircraft's two engines. They said the 282 passengers onboard flight 1213 were then safely evacuated.

The Greater Orlando Aviation Authority also said some passengers had to be evacuated via an emergency slide.

The airline said 10 flight attendants and two pilots were also onboard.

Delta Airlines leaders told Spectrum News that customers safely returned to the terminal and were given food and drink vouchers as they waited for new flights.

In a statement, Delta said, "We appreciate our customers' cooperation and apologize for the experience. Nothing is more important than safety and Delta teams will work to get our customers to their final destinations as soon as possible."

While it can be a scary sight to see, experts say engine fires are very rare.

“In 2024 there were 14 possible engine fires out of 8.27 million commercial jet departures," shared Associate Director of the Boeing Center for Aviation and Aerospace Safety at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Dr. Kristy Kiernan. "So, that’s 1 in almost 600,000 flights. Extremely rare.”

Dr. Kiernan says that although it is rare, pilots are well trained and versed in handling these situations.

“It is important to know that there are a lot of safety processes in place so even when something like that does happen and that’s extremely rare, we do have the training and procedures in place to allow it to be handled safely," Dr. Kiernan said.

In fact, Dr. Kiernan says that the pilot’s actions more than likely made putting the fire out so seamless.

“If you watch the video, the smoke and flame dissipates very quickly, which would indicate that when the pilot secured the fuel to the engine that, that was successful in putting out the fire," said Dr. Kiernan.

The timeline for Delta Flight 1213 to return to service isn’t clear because it all depends on the extent of the damage.

“Obviously, not only do you want to determine what the damage was to the engine, but you mainly want to figure out why that happened in the first place," Dr. Kiernan said. "Maybe there was residual fuel that was left outside of the engine combustion compartment because there’s fire going on in the engine all the time.”