United Airlines passenger's terrifying footage of SPARKS flying off plane engine

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Passenger recorded shocking video of sparks coming off plane engine
Incident occurred 1 hr into flight and aircraft was forced to turn back
United Airlines 396 returned to Honolulu Airport with no injuries reported

Published: 07:07 EST, 8 July 2015 | Updated: 07:23 EST, 8 July 2015

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A typical flight from Honolulu, Hawaii, to San Francisco, California, on July 7 turned into a horrifying experience when the plane engine began to spark just an hour after takeoff.

Passenger Joseph Villareal filmed a shocking video of the incident, wherein orange streaks are seen coming off the engine on the left side of the plane.

It was then that the pilot announced that crew would use an internal extinguisher to subdue the flames.

Plane lands after sparks from engine spotted out window

A passenger recorded shocking footage of a plane engine sending fiery orange sparks off of its left side

The incident took place on United Airlines flight 396, a regularly scheduled overnight flight that usually arrives back on US mainland at 5am the following morning.

The pilots told passengers that they had been forced to turn back and would be making a non-emergency landing in Honolulu.

'I was on the left side of the plane and I could hear two thumps,' Villareal told Honolulu's KITV 4. 'I do a lot of travelling and I knew that wasn't normal.'

'Just a couple of seconds after that, you start to see these sparks, at about 10:30.'

The incident took place on a regularly-scheduled United Airlines flight from Honolulu to San Francisco

The flight ultimately returned for a non-emergency landing at Honolulu Airport and no injuries were reported

Following his spotting of the fiery sparks, Villareal explains that the crew announced that they would be dumping the fuel and for everyone to remain calm.

'They said that they were working through their checklist,' he added, explaining that the flight made a safe return landing just after 11pm.

United Airlines officials told KITV that there were no injuries reported and that it would re-accommodate customers en route to San Francisco later that day.

MailOnline Travel has contacted United Airlines for comment.