PENSACOLA, Fla., Aug. 27 (UPI) -- A Southwest flight from New Orleans to Orlando, Fla., was forced to make an emergency landing Saturday morning after passengers said an engine exploded while they were flying over open water in the Gulf of Mexico. (https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cq4SW62WYAAy_pX.jpg) Witnesses posted pictures of the burnt out engine on social media. One woman told KOCO-TV in Oklahoma City, where she and her family live, that they heard a loud explosion and saw flames and smoke briefly coming out of the engine before the plane, Southwest Flight 3472, began to lose altitude sharply.
The woman, who was not identified, said oxygen masks dropped from the compartments above passengers' seats. Shortly after the Boeing 737 leveled off, the woman said the captain entered the passenger cabin and told everyone they were going to make an emergency landing in Pensacola, Fla. The pilots were able to guide the plane safely to the ground in Pensacola without further incident.
Southwest said the plane suffered "a mechanical issue with the No. 1 engine" prompting the emergency landing. The aircraft has been taken out of service and the National Transportation Safety Board may open an investigation, Southwest Airlines said. (http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/160827185016-southwest-airlines-3472-damage-exlarge-169.jpg)
None of the 99 passengers and five crew members aboard were injured. The woman told KOCO that crew members worked flawlessly after the incident and were able to keep passengers calm.
"(The crew) stayed professional. They were amazing," she said. "I mean, we couldn't have had a better crew, and it was thanks to that pilot that we're all alive." -------------- That was a close call for whoever was sitting in the window seat.
Title: Re: Southwest 737 Engine Explosion
Post by: Meatwad on August 28, 2016, 08:07:37 AM
Super lucky there wasnt a cabin breech looking at the fuselage image
Title: Re: Southwest 737 Engine Explosion
Post by: rpm on August 28, 2016, 08:25:08 AM
There was a cabin depressurization. Masks deployed. They dropped 30K in 8 minutes.
Title: Re: Southwest 737 Engine Explosion
Post by: Volron on August 28, 2016, 08:38:04 AM
What he probably meant was that there wasn't an explosive decompression, like what had happened on United Airlines Flight 811.
Title: Re: Southwest 737 Engine Explosion
Post by: Meatwad on August 28, 2016, 08:39:05 AM
Yep that. Coffee hasnt kicked in yet today
Title: Re: Southwest 737 Engine Explosion
Post by: Masherbrum on August 28, 2016, 09:58:54 AM
There was a cabin depressurization. Masks deployed. They dropped 30K in 8 minutes.
Numbers don't sound right, have to wait for the NTSB to publish their report. Normal procedure would have been to request 10K and they were on a short hop so I doubt if they were very high to start with. I think they may have given up 15 K in 8 minutes, like I said, wait for the report and there will be a report because the containment vessel failed around engine 1.
Title: Re: Southwest 737 Engine Explosion
Post by: MiloMorai on August 28, 2016, 01:57:06 PM
Just looked at AC190 flight from Toronto to Ottawa (~250mi) and it was at ~27,000ft.
The flight distance from Orlando International Airport (MCO) to Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY) is 551 miles
Title: Re: Southwest 737 Engine Explosion
Post by: Brooke on August 28, 2016, 05:26:11 PM
The damage is strange looking. It doesn't seem to be an engine explosion -- the engine is still there, with front fan blades intact.
It looks like the front engine cowling just disintegrated or tore off on its own. Weird.
Title: Re: Southwest 737 Engine Explosion
Post by: Meatwad on August 28, 2016, 05:41:00 PM
Thats good because half the time I dont even know what I meant
Title: Re: Southwest 737 Engine Explosion
Post by: DaveBB on August 28, 2016, 07:03:37 PM
WW2 flight crews used to tell tales of Gremlins tearing apart their aircraft in flight. To this day, strange things still occur in flight with no explanation.
I knew exactly what he meant. Was pointing out how close it came to flinging debris inside the cabin. The inner skin cracked, but still held the debris.
Title: Re: Southwest 737 Engine Explosion
Post by: Chalenge on August 29, 2016, 03:29:46 AM
This incident may not be characteristic of the type, but this engine has had incidents before and at least one blade failure led to a significant loss of life. Perhaps there isn't a person that can identify what caused this problem, but just the same maybe a previous fix led to a failure of another kind? It will be interesting to find out.
Title: Re: Southwest 737 Engine Explosion
Post by: Easyscor on August 29, 2016, 04:25:13 AM
I'm flying SW next month and I'm always comfortable flying with them, unlike some of the majors. I pay more, but my main bag doesn't cost and extra $50US bucks to check and I can still take it as carry-on if I wish.
That plane was 2/3rd of the way to his destination before the failure, well beyond climb-out and over water. Not a scenario you'd ever want to experience. I'm glad it turned out well but I've come to expect that from SW.
Title: Re: Southwest 737 Engine Explosion
Post by: colmbo on August 29, 2016, 08:03:33 AM
Notice the two open cowl latches on top of engine.
Title: Re: Southwest 737 Engine Explosion
Post by: colmbo on August 29, 2016, 12:29:23 PM
Title: Re: Southwest 737 Engine Explosion
Post by: NatCigg on August 29, 2016, 12:30:03 PM
looks like he dropped 10k in about two minutes.
Sat 10:08:44 AM 30.0050 -90.2456 13° North 149 171 Level Houston Center Sat 10:09:33 AM 30.0464 -90.2342 22° Northeast 185 213 1,800 2,795 Climbing Houston Center Sat 10:10:00 AM Departure (KMSY) @ Saturday 09:10:00 AM CDT SWA Sat 10:10:12 AM 30.0847 -90.2206 17° North 199 229 4,100 2,727 Climbing Houston Center Sat 10:10:39 AM 30.0975 -90.1914 63° Northeast 262 302 4,800 2,903 Climbing Houston Center Sat 10:11:14 AM 30.0997 -90.1408 87° East 253 291 7,100 3,563 Climbing Houston Center Sat 10:12:15 AM 30.1006 -90.0500 89° East 277 319 10,500 2,829 Climbing Houston Center Sat 10:13:17 AM 30.1008 -89.9436 90° East 331 381 12,900 2,855 Climbing Houston Center Sat 10:14:19 AM 30.0842 -89.8333 100° East 348 400 16,400 2,927 Climbing Houston Center Sat 10:15:20 AM 30.0681 -89.7197 99° East 362 417 18,900 2,634 Climbing Houston Center Sat 10:16:22 AM 30.0683 -89.5728 90° East 390 449 21,800 2,226 Climbing Houston Center Sat 10:17:24 AM 30.0869 -89.4436 80° East 407 468 23,500 1,756 Climbing Houston Center Sat 10:18:25 AM 30.1017 -89.3061 83° East 429 494 25,400 1,805 Climbing Houston Center Sat 10:19:27 AM 30.1172 -89.1619 83° East 448 516 27,200 1,694 Climbing Houston Center Sat 10:20:29 AM 30.1333 -89.0164 83° East 455 524 28,900 1,610 Climbing Houston Center Sat 10:21:30 AM 30.1514 -88.8664 82° East 473 544 30,500 878 Climbing Houston Center Sat 10:22:32 AM 30.1756 -88.6892 81° East 461 531 30,700 -1,403 Climbing Houston Center Sat 10:23:34 AM 30.1919 -88.5522 82° East 439 505 27,600 -2,323 Descending Houston Center Sat 10:24:36 AM 30.2008 -88.4175 86° East 426 490 25,900 -1,452 Descending Houston Center Sat 10:25:32 AM Diverted (KPNS) @ Saturday 09:25:32 AM CDT - 76sm East (75°) Jacksonville Center Sat 10:25:38 AM 30.2111 -88.2903 85° East 408 470 24,600 -1,561 Descending Houston Center Sat 10:26:39 AM 30.2294 -88.1717 80° East 385 443 22,700 -1,729 Descending Houston Center Sat 10:27:36 AM 30.2428 -88.0553 82° East 372 428 21,200 -1,533 Descending Jacksonville Center Sat 10:28:09 AM 30.2614 -87.9897 72° East 345 397 20,400 -1,839 Descending Jacksonville Center Sat 10:28:38 AM 30.2747 -87.9503 69° East 350 403 19,300 -2,111 Descending Jacksonville Center Sat 10:29:03 AM 30.2939 -87.9003 66° East 349 402 18,500 -1,548 Descending Jacksonville Center Sat 10:29:40 AM 30.3150 -87.8506 64° Northeast 349 402 17,700 -5,152 Descending Jacksonville Center Sat 10:30:42 AM 30.3547 -87.7342 68° East 338 389 10,000 -3,696 Descending Jacksonville Center Sat 10:31:45 AM 30.3697 -87.6408 79° East 318 366 10,000 Level Jacksonville Center Sat 10:33:49 AM 30.3553 -87.4653 95° East 282 325 10,000 Level Jacksonville Center Sat 10:34:51 AM 30.3883 -87.3967 61° Northeast 264 304 10,000 Level Jacksonville Center Sat 10:35:53 AM 30.4542 -87.3697 19° North 262 302 10,000 Level Jacksonville Center Sat 10:39:00 AM 30.6144 -87.2714 28° Northeast 226 260 10,000 Level Jacksonville Center Sat 10:40:02 AM 30.6247 -87.2103 79° East 218 251 10,000 Level Jacksonville Center Sat 10:42:11 AM Arrival (KPNS) @ Saturday 09:42:11 AM CDT FlightAware Estimated
He got rid of 20,000ft is a little over 7 minutes, better yet he managed it while shedding about 270 miles per hour.. The speed was much harder to manage then the alt, I'll bet yea, just wondering if he hand flew it or was it an automated plunge to 10K.
Title: Re: Southwest 737 Engine Explosion
Post by: donnieboy on August 29, 2016, 02:06:55 PM
The cowlings are in place. The inlet came apart.
Title: Re: Southwest 737 Engine Explosion
Post by: Ripsnort on August 30, 2016, 09:06:12 AM
looking at a good cowl inlet like this one it is possible to see what could of been the problem, premature detonation. :old:
Title: Re: Southwest 737 Engine Explosion
Post by: icepac on September 01, 2016, 09:10:00 PM
At 600mph, a fist sized hole on the leading edge of the inlet will pressurize the portion ahead of the bulkhead.
From there, it's anybody's guess as to the sequence of failure from overpressure.
It's also anybody's guess whether it was a slot formed by a latch left loose which enlarged in the 600mph stream or whether it was foreign object damage that let it get pressurized.
Usually, the force needed to remove a unlatched cowl occurs below 250mph.
Title: Re: Southwest 737 Engine Explosion
Post by: donnieboy on September 02, 2016, 08:55:46 AM
At 600mph, a fist sized hole on the leading edge of the inlet will pressurize the portion ahead of the bulkhead.
From there, it's anybody's guess as to the sequence of failure from overpressure.
It's also anybody's guess whether it was a slot formed by a latch left loose which enlarged in the 600mph stream or whether it was foreign object damage that let it get pressurized.
Usually, the force needed to remove a unlatched cowl occurs below 250mph.
Spot on. Even a smaller hole would grow fast in the wind stream and cause the end result we are seeing. So many things could cause the initial damage. FOD, bird strike, bleed air overpressure in the "D" ring, structural failure of the inner barrel skins(seen that on a few)... Once the inlet starts shredding a lot of it goes thru the core and poof, kills the engine.
Title: Re: Southwest 737 Engine Explosion
Post by: Traveler on September 04, 2016, 03:13:58 PM
At 600mph, a fist sized hole on the leading edge of the inlet will pressurize the portion ahead of the bulkhead.
From there, it's anybody's guess as to the sequence of failure from overpressure.
It's also anybody's guess whether it was a slot formed by a latch left loose which enlarged in the 600mph stream or whether it was foreign object damage that let it get pressurized.
Usually, the force needed to remove a unlatched cowl occurs below 250mph.
I agree with your statement, however where do you see this aircraft at 600mph? As I thought and speculated in an earlier post the NTSB in their preliminary findings has chosen to investigate this event as a engine containment failure. Lets wait to see the final report of the investigation and actual findings.