Southwest plane suffers in-flight "major engine malfunction"
Aug 27, 2016, 12:56 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 6,286
Southwest plane suffers in-flight "major engine malfunction"
Yikes.
Southwest Airlines flight from New Orleans airport diverted after mid-air engine issue
Photos from Facebook:
Southwest Airlines flight from New Orleans airport diverted after mid-air engine issue
Photos from Facebook:
Aug 27, 2016, 1:04 pm
#2
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Blue Ridge, GA
Posts: 5,512
Stock release:
Today, the Captain of Flight #3472 from New Orleans to Orlando made the decision to divert to Pensacola due to a mechanical issue with the number one engine. The flight landed safely without incident at Pensacola International Airport at 9:40 a.m. central time. Initial reports indicate there were no injuries among the 99 passengers and five crew members onboard. We have notified the NTSB, and when authorized, we will be inspecting the aircraft to assess the damage. The aircraft is out of service, and we will work to accommodate the passengers to Orlando or their final destination as soon as possible.
Aug 27, 2016, 1:26 pm
#3
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 1,832
Wow. Wonder if the damage caused an immediate failure of the engine or the pilots had to manually shut it down.
EDIT: looks like from the pictures it was an immediate shutdown as the fan blades appear to have impacted the damaged area. And I see from the side of the aircraft why it lost pressure.
EDIT: looks like from the pictures it was an immediate shutdown as the fan blades appear to have impacted the damaged area. And I see from the side of the aircraft why it lost pressure.
Aug 27, 2016, 2:06 pm
#5
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This is a pretty serious event-it looks as though a blade nearly made it into the cabin.
Unusual to see entire fan and fan case ripped off the shaft. Be interesting to read if a witness watched the event occur.
Aug 27, 2016, 2:19 pm
#8
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: san antonio, texas
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Perhaps the root cause will be similar to the MD 88 tragedy..the post accident appearance is certainly similar.
Aug 27, 2016, 2:28 pm
#9
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The fan looks intact to me...
Aug 27, 2016, 2:47 pm
#11
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Aug 27, 2016, 3:24 pm
#12
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 5,813
Turbine failures are very dangerous, but I wonder if the captain had anything to do with the failure or the lucky fact that no one was injured. Looks to me like they were just lucky since the engine obviously came apart.
Aug 27, 2016, 4:04 pm
#14
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Blue Ridge, GA
Posts: 5,512
The WN pilot was able to immediately shut down the engine at cruising altitude and contain the damage. The DL MD88 captain had far worse options on take-off roll.
Aug 27, 2016, 5:14 pm
#15
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With a wing-mounted engine, the debris can scatter more widely and less of it will impact the cabin area. Nevertheless anyone sitting by that hole was lucky.
Was thinking the same thing -- eschew exit rows!
Last edited by MikeMpls; Aug 27, 2016 at 5:22 pm