Strange Incidents At El Paso Airport Keep Air Travel Interesting
While the El Paso International Airport might not be the BIGGEST one in Texas, it still has had its share of wild stories that has happened in its history. It's very safe at the ELP airport & some bands have even filmed music videos inside our airport, like Nothing More did in 2018.
But sometimes, crazy things happen. Some of these events have been recorded thanks to the air traffic controllers (ATC) and even uploaded online for us to hear just what the heck has happened.
A plane was diverted to El Paso thanks to a hailstorm.
On June 3, 2018, American Airlines 1897 was en route from San Antonio to Phoenix when it encountered a hailstorm north of El Paso. The airplane had to come BACK to the El Paso airport after suffering some extreme damage to the aircraft from the hail. The plane landing safely in El Paso at around 8 o'clock at night with no injuries to anyone on board.
The conversation between AA1897 was recorded by air traffic controllers, and you can actually see just how badly the plane was damaged in this video uploaded by VASAviation.
A passenger’s phone caught on fire during a flight leaving El Paso.
We know it gets hot in El Paso during the spring, but on April 30, 2025, things got REALLY hot after a passenger cell phone caught on fire. Southwest Airlines Flight 2112 was about to depart for Houston when they alerted to ATC about the on-board fire. Fire and rescue crews were called out but thankfully no one was hurt and thank GOD this didn’t happen while the plane was in the air…
Various engine failures in El Paso.
ATC have recorded a few incidents that happened right after takeoff. On July 2024, World Atlantic Airlines lost had an engine fire shortly after departing for McAllen TX. The crew brought the plane back to airport safely just 4 minutes after takeoff. Another engine failure was recorded by ATC Feb 22, 2026 involving a Cessna which could be found here.
The 2026 El Paso Airport Shutdown.
Wrapping up our list is something no one expected to have on their 2026 bingo card; the El Paso Airport Shutdown on Feb 11, 2026. There were various ATC recordings of the incident shortly after it happened and you can hear the absolute confusion in everyone’s voices during this whole debacle. Thankfully the whole shutdown lasted for just a few hours and not the original 10 days. Hopefully this is not an incident though would be repeated…
If you want more wild stories involving planes in Texas, you can read about how many hijackings there have been in the state's history here.
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