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Southwest Air Jet Diverted
After Damage From Engine Failure
 U.S. safety board probes incident on plane carrying 104 people A Southwest Airlines Co. jet was forced to make an emergency landing after the cabin lost pressure due to what federal officials called a rare uncontained engine failure. No one was injured on Flight 3472 from New Orleans to Orlando, Florida, when the Boeing Co. 737 was diverted Saturday to Pensacola International Airport in Florida, an spokesman said by e-mail, citing an unknown mechanical issue. A photo posted on Twitter Inc. by the Southwest pilots union showed the plane in flight with the front of the left nacelle, as the casing is formally known, torn off to expose the engine inside. In an uncontained failure, debris escapes the hardened engine casing and can damage or penetrate the wings or fuselage, amplifying the risk to the aircraft far beyond the loss of thrust. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said in a Twitter posting that it is investigating. The flight landed without incident at 10:40 a.m. New York time, after roughly a half-hour in the air, according to airline data-tracker FlightAware.com. There were no indications of injuries among the 99 passengers and five crew members on board, the spokesman said. Southwest notified the safety board of the incident and, when authorized, will inspect the plane to assess the damage. The aircraft is out of service, and Dallas-based Southwest said it is working to get the passengers to Orlando or their final destination as soon as possible.
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Narrative:
A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-7H4 (WL) operating flight WN3472 suffered an in-flight loss of an engine air inlet cowl near Biloxi, Mississippi. A safe diversion was carried out. The airplane departed New Orleans International Airport, Louisiana at 09:10 hours local time for a flight to Orlando International Airport, Florida. While climbing through FL310, about 26 km south off Biloxi, the air inlet cowl of the nr.1 engine broke away. The flight contacted Houston Center about 09:22, stating: "engine failure...we've lost number one engine, we're descending". Initially the flight was cleared down to FL260. The flight then radioed "472 we need get down below ten". The flight was then cleared down to FL240 and the flight again stated that they needed to get down to 10000 feet. While descending the crew made two unintentional transmissions to Houston Center in which they can be heard working the related emergency checklist with a sound indicating the possible use of oxygen masks by the crew. The flight then diverted to Pensacola were it landed about 09:40. After landing damage was observed to the wing leading edge, between the engine and the fuselage and a tear in the fuselage. This was the aircraft's first flight of the day after having stayed overnight at New Orleans after arriving from Houston at 22:37. |
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NTSB probes Southwest 737
uncontained engine failure
 The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) says it is investigating an uncontained engine failure on a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700 that diverted to Pensacola earlier today. The aircraft was operating flight 3472 from New Orleans to Orlando when the flight crew diverted following a "mechanical issue" with the aircraft's number one engine, says the Dallas-based carrier. The flight landed safely at Pensacola at 09:40 Central Time. No injuries were reported among the 99 passengers and five crew members, says Southwest. Photos posted on social media show extensive damage to the aircraft's CFM International CFM56 powerplant. "We have notified the NTSB, and when authorised, we will be inspecting the aircraft to assess the damage," says the airline. The aircraft involved in the incident is registered N766SW, and was built in 2000, Flight Fleets Analyzer shows. It had accumulated more than 57,200h and 33,400 cycles as of April. |
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