Southwest Airlines plane makes emergency landing in Florida after engine breaks apart midflight

[brooklynite]

Source: New York Daily News

A Southwest Airlines jet bound for Orlando, Fla., was forced to make an emergency landing in Pensacola after one of its engines fell apart over the Gulf of Mexico.

Startled passengers on board Flight 3472 from New Orleans heard a frightening blast to the aircraft’s left at an altitude of 30,700 feet. Outside their windows, they saw smoke fuming from the exposed turbine blades at around 9:20 a.m. Saturday.

“All of a sudden, outside my window, there was a loud explosion, and then the plane started shuddering,” passenger Tami Richards told KOCO-TV.

Chunks of the engine's cowling had fallen off, according to photos taken from the aircraft’s window midflight. Another photo shows a metal object had pierced the fuselage.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/southwest-airlines-plane-lands-fla-engine-malfunction-article-1.2768491?utm_content=buffere6150&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=NYDailyNewsTw

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[shawn703]

1. Wow glad everyone is okay

On a lighter note, looking at the picture I can't help but be reminded of that Twilight Zone episode with William Shatner, and the remake by John Lithgow for the movie.

[longship]

2. There's some THING on the wing.

And, of course, the original:

[Adrahil]

44. I came to post that!!! ;) NT

[Stuart G]

3. Everyone was/is OK...no one hurt...

Pilot did a great job in landing immediately...

[Gman]

4. and SWA still has never had a crash with fatalities.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

7. Except that time a SW 737 ran off a runway in Chicago and killed a 6 year old in a car.

[former9thward]

11. I have landed at Midway many times.

It is like landing on a postage stamp with neighborhoods all around. You look out the window and you are just above traffic on the roads. Very unsafe airport in my view.

[Major Nikon]

18. Lots of urban airports are that way

The northbound approaches into Dallas Love field take you directly over the tallest buildings in downtown Dallas. It looks hairy to the layman, but it's quite safe. The approaches are certified by the FAA for obstacle clearance with a wide margin or they couldn't be used in anything other than good visibility.

[former9thward]

39. How many ground fatalites have occurred around the Dallas airport?

There have been at least four crashes at Midway casing deaths in the neighborhood.

In 1959 a TWA Lockheed Constellation crashed near 63rd Place and Kilpatrick Avenue (just a few short blocks from Tuesday's accident) killing eight people on the ground and the three occupants of the airliner.

1973 - A United 737 crashed on approach and impacted several houses killing two.

1976 - An Air Chicago Freight B-25 crashed on a training flight after an engine failure and subsequent fire. The airplane struck houses killing one woman. Two houses, two garages, three automobiles, and a boat were destroyed. One house was damaged substantially, while nine others were damaged slightly.

2005 - A Southwest airplane slid off an icy runway onto Central Avenue crushing a car and causing the death of a 6 year-old boy.

There have been many other crashes in the neighborhood causing injury but not necessarily fatalities.

http://www.burbankbeat.net/news/midway-mishaps-a-brief-history-of-area-plane-crashes

[Major Nikon]

41. In 1949 a DC-6 crashed and killed 28 people on the ground

So it sounds like that one crash alone did in more people than you found over a 45 year period. If you want to go back a hundred years or so to the WWI days I'm sure there there quite a few more.

Pretty much any airport in a highly urban environment is going to have fatalities both from inside the aircraft and outside throughout its history. That doesn't mean they are inherently unsafe. The roads surrounding them have far more fatalities just from ground vehicles.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

30. IIRC, they've since added an EMAS arresting system on that runway.

Too late for that kid.

Yeah, it's certainly packed in pretty tight. I wonder how it stacks up, safety wise, with other urban airports.

My dad started there with American Airlines before the move to O'Hare.

I remember the B-25 crash in the neighborhood in 1976.. We drove by it some time shortly after the crash. I remember the freshly vacant lot where two homes used to be.

http://www.burbankbeat.net/news/midway-mishaps-a-brief-history-of-area-plane-crashes

[PearliePoo2]

5. THIS is why aircraft are designed to fly even when an engine is lost or disabled!

That's a GOOD thing! Pilots are required to train with simulated loss of engine and how to recover. (single engine airplanes obviously have a unique problem if the engine is lost)
Knowing all that, I would still be terrified seeing an engine on fire and exploding. Holy crap!

[Hugin]

6. Wow. A happy story! Great work on a safe ending.

The second picture looks like it was something external to the jet engine that flew into the turbines. It looks like all of the compressor vanes are still there.

Totally weird.

I hope everyone has made it to their destination and glad nobody was injured.

[mainer]

8. Could a bird strike do it?

I can't think of anything else that would fly into the turbines except a drone.

[Moonwalk]

9. Wasn't a bird. What happened, they're not sure, but they are sure that it's mechanical....

Quote: "Southwest Airlines blamed an unspecified mechanical issue with the engine and said the National Transportation Safety Board would be investigating what it described as an “uncontained engine failure,” officials said in a statement."

[Liberalagogo]

23. Not a lot of birds

at 30,000 feet.

[Major Nikon]

42. Not a lot, but some

Birds are pretty amazing creatures. I've seen crows and seagulls well inside the arctic circle. Some of the environments they can survive is pretty incredible.

[Liberalagogo]

46. Not over the Gulf of Mexico

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_birds_by_flight_heights

[Major Nikon]

48. ...

However, there have been bird strikes reported at heights up to 32,000 feet (9,754 m) in the United States (Cleary etal. 2005) and 37,000 feet (11,278 m) in Africa (Laybourne1974).

http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1496&context=icwdm_usdanwrc

[Liberalagogo]

49. Nothing about

over the Gulf of Mexico, I see.

[Major Nikon]

50. Nothing you cited claims there aren't birds at 30K over the gulf either

The reality is that bird strikes are exceedingly rare. I have well over 3,000 flight hours with exactly zero bird strikes despite flying at altitudes in which birds are the most common. Most of the real data we get about how high birds actually fly comes from bird strikes which are very rare occurrences. Each individual bird strike over 20,000' which is actually reported (many aren't), gives us new data, but the reality is we just don't know everything about where birds actually are because the data collection is so infrequent. Convective currents can propel birds to extremely high altitudes and they can be found pretty much everywhere the jet stream goes, including the Gulf of Mexico.

I'm not saying this is a bird strike and if I were to guess I'd say it isn't, but it certainly isn't outside the realm of possibility.

[Liberalagogo]

54. Whatever...

n/t

[Major Nikon]

55. That's pretty much my thoughts on your Wiki cite

Which lists no birds in North America over 21,000'. So by this we must conclude the numerous bird strikes reported in the US far higher than that must be mythological.

[Liberalagogo]

57. Let it go

and welcome to ignore.

[Major Nikon]

58. You stole my line!

[Moonwalk]

10. The best safety device is a well-trained pilot! I agree, and I'm glad the union pointed this out....

Quote: "The union for Southwest Airlines pilots tweeted a photo of the broken engine and commended the captain for landing the diverted flight safely in Pensacola.

“A great job today by our professional @SouthwestAir pilots! The best safety device is always a well-trained pilot,” the union wrote."

[TipTok]

12. Waiting for the inevitable "I just want to thank Jesus for saving me!"

... instead of the pilots, maintenance crew and engineers who built the damn thing to keep going.

[Travis_0004]

26. The maintance people may have had a role in it comming apart, so I'm not sure I would thank them yet

[calendargirl]

59. So much for religious tolerance on a progressive board nt

[TipTok]

62. I believe you are confusing tolerance and active encouragement...

From the first article I googled...

I held my kids, and one was freaking out, crying. And so, we're trying to hold his hand and singing and praying a lot," Richards said.

"I had my faith in god, so I knew that whatever was going to happen, he was with us," Richards said. "So I was able to stay calm. It wasn't until after I got on the ground that I got emotional."

Just always seems a bit misplaced to me.

[calendargirl]

63. A person's individual faith is misplaced?

If a mother is able to calm her children during a terrifying experience through her faith in God, more power to her. How does that diminish the courage and expertise of the pilots? Why should that matter to anyone?

[TipTok]

64. Just always seemed like a bit of cognitive dissonance...

If god is with you, it's just as likely that he going to be with you all the way to gruesome death (which is exactly the way he planned it)

I don't know that 'matter' is the right word. More like odd fluke of human psychology.

[BlueCollar]

13. there is something very strange here

I've been in the business for almost forty years and I've never seen or heard of an engine coming apart like this one.

The entire inlet cowl and low pressure turbine blade assembly is missing.

This investigation should be very interesting given the number of aircraft operating with this powerplant.

[cab67]

14. Could it be a longevity issue?

I don't fly SWA often (they don't serve my nearest airport), but I did before moving to my current location; their planes looked a little older than those flown by other airlines.

[BlueCollar]

15. it shouldnt be

From what little i know this engine recently went through scheduled maintenance.

If it was a full overhaul it would have been torn down to piece part, inspected, repaired/upgraded as required and reassembled.

My experience is mostly with Rolls Royce powerplants. This one is a General Electric but the principal is pretty consistent.

Lots of parts are retired/scrapped due to longevity during the overhaul process.

This looks like is massive failure of the low pressure turbine blade assembly...almost as if the shaft failed.

I am speculating of course. Normally in a situation like this you see a contained failure meaning the bits and pieces that fail remain contained within the cowl. Here everything departed the engine.

[cab67]

22. Thanks.

I must admit, the old Far Side cartoon of an airline passenger accidentally hitting the "wings stay on/wings fall off" switch on his armrest came to mind, but I've never seen one for "engine stays intact/engine comes apart."

The only concerns I've ever had as a passenger have been with older aircraft. I realize they're constantly and professionally maintained, so this isn't necessarily a rational worry, but it's a worry nonetheless.

[turbinetree]

17. I agree with you-------------100%

That cone holding the fan compressor turbine blades and the inlet cowl are gone, and to have it done at over 30,000 feet tells me that they "could have had a compressor stall" caused by freezing on the inlet fan blades, and is not to be used as a way of represented as fact.
I also have been in the business for about thirty-five years

[Hassin Bin Sober]

31. What about UAL 232?

Sometimes engines blow apart? No?

What makes this one so different? Is there something specific that makes this incident so unusual? I know uncontained failures are rare but they do happen?

Or am I missing something?

I know passengers have been killed by jet engines coming apart. My first thought was it was fortunate nothing penetrated the fuselage.

[BlueCollar]

35. UAL 232

Was traced to a fan blade disc failure that should have been caught during a routine fluorescent penetrant inspection.

It wasn't.

Your point?

My only observation was that this particular failure is very unusual. The. UAL failure didn't blow the front of the powerplants off and involved a fuselage mounted powerplants.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

37. My point is I thought I had seen other engine failures leading to the cowling being blown off.

There has even been penetrations of the fuselage resulting in passenger death.

It looks that almost happened here. One more reason, besides view, not to like the wing seat. Lol.

On the other hand, sitting near that emergency exit might come in hand when half the passengers are grabbing their luggage while the plane burns and the other half are twittering the fire.

[Adrahil]

45. My guess is damage to a turbine blade.

It unbalanaced the the turbine fan, which then proceeded to disassemble itself at an accelerated rate.

[VMA131Marine]

51. The rotating parts of the engine are all there ...

Take a look at the images in this link:

http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2016/08/southwest-airlines-boeing-737-incident_27.html

These confirm the almost total departure of the front of the cowl and engine inlet from the nacelle, but the first stage low pressure compressor appears intact (I have seen unconfirmed reports of a single blade missing).

[BlueCollar]

60. I Agree

My original post was based upon a photo that didn't clearly show the LP turbine blades.

In the latest pictures, it is clear that the LP turbine blades and
D spinner are still in place.

So it looks like the inlet cowl came apart. The inner lining appears to be in place...

Still damn strange...that's a lot of cowl to come apart...

Ex VP squadron mech here...

[Nac Mac Feegle]

16. Just wondering...

I've been hearing for a while that a lot of the maintenance of aircraft has been outsourced as a cost saving measure. To countries in South America, South Asia, Africa; where the technician certifications and 'legitimate' parts availability is somewhat less than that in the U.S. and other countries.

Could this be a result of that?

[turbinetree]

19. Lets put this in perpsective, I have been in the industry for over thirty-five years-

http://transportation.house.gov/uploadedfiles/2013-12-12-wytkind.pdf

And read this book----------------and just for giggles go back and look up Frank Lorenzo


The Betrayal of the American Dream by James Bartlett and Donald Steele


And finally let me say, this, I have worked at airlines that outsource there C and D checks, the requirements are that you only have to have "one" individual holding a FAA certificate with a PowerPlant and Airframe Rating and you can have a 100 people working on the aircraft that do not hold that certificate, the one individual that is holding the certificate, will sign off the "log book" saying the work being performed is done in accordance ( IAW) with the FAA and per the maintenance manual and the per manufacture procedures and is airworthy, the outsourced U.S. Flag Carriers work has to be done in accordance to the FAA procedures.

I want you to read Part 43.3 sub paragraph d, and after you read the entire 43.3 get back to me and tell me what you think, I will then tell you what I think

14 CFR 43.3 - Persons authorized to perform maintenance, preventive maintenance, rebuilding, and alterations.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/14/part-43

This is the regs:

https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/granule/CFR-2011-title14-vol1/CFR-2011-title14-vol1-part43

[BlueCollar]

21. well put

I have worked at two airlines and two third party maintenance providers in my career.

All of that work was here in the USA.

The standards vary. It has been my experience that the quality of the final product depends upon the culture of the organization at the time the critical decision has to be made.

Ultimately the safety issue belongs to the person signing the airworthiness release.

I think the oversight of third party maintenance by the FAA is a joke...

[turbinetree]

36. Yes, you are correct........................

Last edited Sun Aug 28, 2016, 07:17 PM - Edit history (3)

I have / was been in Commercial aviation for over thirty- five years and on the manufacturing side over 8 years.

Talk to you again

(Wado) Thank you

[BlueCollar]

20. too early to tell..in my opinion

First we need to find out what happened.

Then we can try to figure out why it happened.

The flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder will provide a lot of information.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

32. Do they pull those for non-fatal/non-injury incidents like this?

Seems like more of a maintanance/design mystery to me.

Wouldn't there be a more comprehensive engine monitoring system onboard that wouldn't require pulling the "black boxes"?

[BlueCollar]

34. the onboard computer will obviously supplement

The flight data computer data.

I am only speculating but I am pretty sure there will be more than the usual amount of data to analyze.

The point i was trying to make is that there is an abundance of both electronic and physical data here.

[Dreamer Tatum]

56. One mishap and that's what you infer?

Wow. Tough crowd.

[FigTree]

24. Congratulations to the crew.

They were also lucky the horizontal stabilizer was only hit by a small piece...

[brooklynite]

25. Audio of emergency transmissions.

http://airportwebcams.net/WN3472.mp3

[mike_c]

27. damn....

It's always heartening to hear professionals keep their heads in hairy situations. Kudos to the pilots and crew!

[Fred Sanders]

28. Amazing professionalism by the captain and crew.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

33. Interesting.

I don't think they intended to broadcast their emergency checklist. But it makes for good listening.

[harun]

65. Pro's

[Applan]

29. Maybe a bleed system failure?

There are a couple of pressure relief doors on the nacelle which look like they've been actuated perhaps suggesting a bleed system failure. The inlet might have become over pressurized as a result. Of course the relief doors are there to prevent this happening but for some reason they couldn't handle the sudden increase in pressure.

One possible cause.

[BlueCollar]

61. good point...n/t

[roamer65]

38. Good thing it happened over the Gulf.

Otherwise those pieces could have hurt people on the ground.

Glad to hear everyone safely landed.

[montana_hazeleyes]

40. So glad disaster was avoided.

No telling how people will react to a situation like that though.

Loud explosion, smoke coming out, plane shaking, oxygen masks drop, and one lady is taking a selfie!

[Sunlei]

43. so lucky the piece that pierced the fuselage didn't cause a total break-up

[VMA131Marine]

52. Not really ....

The skin damage is superficial. Aircraft have suffered far worse inflight damage and survived; Aloha Flight 243 comes to mind.

[Recursion]

47. Was John Lithgow on the plane?

That's terrifying...

[mike_c]

53. dammit-- where in the hell did I leave that wrench...?

eom