The haunting words of an American Airlines pilot moments before the plane burst into flames can be revealed. Flight 1006 was diverted due to an emergency, which saw smoke billow through the plane and the 172 passengers and six crew get evacuated. Several tourists were rushed to hospital after the landing at Denver International Airport, which is in Colorado. But air traffic control recordings released Friday show the pilot wasn't initially too worried when asked to confirm that mid-air engine trouble was "not an emergency". "Nah, we just have a high engine vibration so we are cruising slower than normal," the pilot responded, according to a Live Air Traffic recording. However, the pilot's nonchalance quickly changed when the plane made an emergency landing at Denver International Airport shortly after 5pm on Thursday. Someone on the radio can be heard yelling: "Mayday, Mayday, Mayday! Mayday! … engine fire!" Passengers recalled their concern as the plane made the emergency landing. Daniel Friedman said he started thinking about writing a eulogy as the chaos unfolded. He described people pushing and shoving to get off. Speaking to WRAL-TV, he added: "Really I just wanted to make sure we got here safe and didn’t know if it was going to happen or not. I don’t wish that upon anybody." The narrow escape is the latest in a series of crashes and near misses involving US passenger jets, with 67 people killed when another American Airlines and a helicopter collided over Washington DC in January. Since then, fears have been raised about air travel however experts insist it is the safest way to travel. This week's case saw Flight 1006, which was heading from the Colorado Springs to Dallas Fort Worth, diverted to Denver after the crew reported engine vibrations. It landed safely around 5:15 p.m., the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said in a statement. An engine on the Boeing 737-800 caught fire as it taxied to the gate, the FAA added. Passengers described people exiting the plane onto its left wing, as an engine beneath the right wing burned and black smoke surrounded the aircraft. They lined up and got to the ground using slides and ladders brought over by ground crews, according to the FAA, video footage and passenger interviews. In a statement, American Airlines thanked its employees and first responders “for their quick and decisive action” following the accident. There was no immediate clarification on exactly when the plane caught fire. Engine fires are rare, and crews trained to deal with them, aviation expert Steven Wallace said. They typically are not catastrophic even if they occur in the air because planes can fly with a single engine, he said. “A pilot going to work for an airline today could likely fly for 30 years and never experience an engine failure,” said Mr Wallace, a former director of the FAA’s accident investigations office.