update from a friend on the flight:
4:15p scheduled departure was pushed back 90m due to various ground holds at sfo
shortly after takeoff, passengers saw (and heard) an engine blow - flash of light followed by very very loud clunking sounds. some passengers panicked at this point. "I saw three series of flashes and a boom"
pilot comes over pa, says "as you can tell, we're obviously very busy up here", lands a few minutes later on 31L, whole cabin bursts into applause
after good 20m sitting on runway, returns to gate and gets offloaded, flight rescheduled with new (identical) metal for 7:30p, same seat assignments.
pax given option of rescheduling for next day and free jfk hotel, canx for a full refund, or continuing on today. food provided, manager went and bought food for my vegan friend since couldn't print (give?) vouchers.
pax reloaded into new metal, only to sit three hours waiting for maintenance to fix a broken computer. apparently one woman also had a major panic attack.
at 11:30p (7h15 after schedule), after one emergency landing and two deplanings, flight finally cancelled. friend given jfk hotel and rebooked for the 7am next day.
needless to say, friend is shaken and exhausted, esp after cph-lhr-jfk earlier that day.
full timeline on
flightstats (
mirror)