Passengers OK as Mishaps Hit 3 Jetliners : Airlines: Flash and smoke on jet at LAX force evacuation. Boeing 737 skids off runway at San Francisco. USAir DC-9 makes emergency landing in Columbus, Ohio.

More than 140 passengers, some sliding down emergency chutes and others leaping off wings, were evacuated Sunday evening after a Delta Airline jet gave off a flash and puff of smoke at Los Angeles International Airport, officials said.

No injuries were reported in the incident, or in two other airline mishaps earlier Sunday. A United Airlines jet from Los Angeles skidded off a runway at San Francisco International Airport, and a USAir DC-9 with suspected engine trouble made an emergency landing in Columbus, Ohio.

At LAX, passengers said they had just boarded a Portland-bound Boeing 727 when they saw a flame shoot out the side of the aircraft. A large puff of smoke followed, some of which was sucked into the plane’s air conditioning system, said Delta spokesman Vince Durocher.

“I heard (a) woman on the other side say, ‘Fire,’ ” said passenger Bob Watkins, an air traffic controller who popped open an emergency exit. “I looked over, saw a glow (and) thought better safe than sorry. . . . I’ve seen (planes) after they burn and I didn’t want to stick around.”

Many passengers walked off the plane, but others fled down escape chutes and onto a wing, where they jumped to the ground. Jim Kanable, 29, of Oregon, caught several passengers leaping from the wing, including 61-year-old Phyllis McGill of Oregon. “I’m really glad. . . . That was quite a height,” McGill said.

Durocher said there was a malfunction in the power unit that starts the aircraft’s engines, but he said there was never a fire, although the unit may have emitted a spark. The airline is investigating, he said.

“Passengers were definitely frightened, especially after what has gone on at LAX,” Durocher said, referring to Friday’s USAir-SkyWest disaster.

Several passengers, however, said it was not the previous tragedy that was on their minds, but getting to safety quickly. “I wanted out of there,” said Tom McGill, Phyllis’ husband.

A few hours later, the passengers were on another flight to Portland.

In San Francisco, an airport spokesman said a Boeing 737 twin-engine jet with 109 passengers and five crew members lost both its main and backup hydraulic systems just before landing on Runway 28-Left at 11:47 a.m.

Without brakes or steering, United Flight 845 skidded about 4,000 feet and came to rest in a muddy area off the side of the runway. The mud, caused by a recent rainfall, helped stop the plane, said airport spokesman Ron Wilson.

“The pilot just had no control of the airplane,” Wilson said.

A few passengers slid down emergency chutes, but most walked down a ramp that was wheeled to the jet’s side.

A United Airlines crew will examine the plane for mechanical difficulties and make a report to the Federal Aviation Administration, said Fred O’Donnell, an FAA spokesman in Los Angeles. O’Donnell said it was unusual for the aircraft to lose the main and the backup hydraulic systems.

In Columbus, Ohio, a USAir DC-9 with 44 passengers made an emergency landing at Port Columbus International Airport about 1:20 p.m. Sunday. Columbus was the last stop the USAir Boeing 737 made Friday before crashing into a commuter plane at LAX.

When the plane radioed Columbus it was coming in for an emergency landing, airport officials summoned firetrucks, but no emergency units were needed. No engine problems were discovered in Sunday’s incidents.

Times staff writers Rich Connell, Dan Morain and Janet Rae-Dupree contributed to this story.