737 Engine falls off, lands safely

[kamilyun]

Sorry if this has been posted, but just saw this on CNN.  Has this ever happened before (successful landing part)?

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CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) -- A plane carrying more than 100 people made an emergency landing in South Africa after an engine fell off during takeoff from Cape Town on Wednesday, officials said. No injuries were reported.

The Nationwide airline plane, bound for Johannesburg, touched down safely after the airport's fire and rescue services rushed to clear debris from the runway.

The right engine of the Boeing 737 "separated from the wing. The aircraft continued to climb out," the airline said in a statement.

One of the passengers, Pretoria businesswoman Ronel Derman, told the South African Press Association that she had been in a seat directly over the wing and a passenger seated next to her was looking out of the window when the engine dropped.

"I heard this huge bang, and he said, 'That's our engine that's just fallen off.' I couldn't believe it. He had to repeat it to me," she told SAPA.

[ChickenHawk]

Originally posted by kamilyun
'That's our engine that's just fallen off.'  

Words you never, ever want to hear.

It's a testament to the engineers at Boeing and I'm sure the quick thinking of the pilots this bird was brought back safely.  WTG.

[Tiger]

I'd love to see a transcript of the communications.

[john9001]

those planes are designed to fly on one engine, the engines are mounted with break away bolts so if a engine malfunctions and starts to vibrate the engine will depart instead of the wing.

[SFRT - Frenchy]

Less drag on single engine perf got to be a good thing:)

[Donzo]

Originally posted by john9001
those planes are designed to fly on one engine, the engines are mounted with break away bolts so if a engine malfunctions and starts to vibrate the engine will depart instead of the wing.

Designed to fly, yes, but takoff?

I remember seeing an incident on a show about air disasters where a DC-10 was taking off and the engine fell off during the takeoff roll.  The engine hit the ground after detaching and bounced off the ground then over the wing.  The plane managed to get airborne but at about 300 ft it began to roll to the left (the left engine was the one that fell off) and the plane rolled into the ground.  

I don't remember the outcome of the investigation so the plane may have been flyable during takeoff with the two remaining engines.

[Xjazz]

'If it's Boeing, I'm NOT going'...err

[indy007]

Originally posted by Xjazz
'If it's Boeing, I'm NOT going'...err

Doesn't matter if it's Airbus, Douglas, or Boeing if the maintenance peoples don't follow procedure

[Ripsnort]

Originally posted by Donzo
Designed to fly, yes, but takoff?

I remember seeing an incident on a show about air disasters where a DC-10 was taking off and the engine fell off during the takeoff roll.  The engine hit the ground after detaching and bounced off the ground then over the wing.  The plane managed to get airborne but at about 300 ft it began to roll to the left (the left engine was the one that fell off) and the plane rolled into the ground.  

I don't remember the outcome of the investigation so the plane may have been flyable during takeoff with the two remaining engines.

The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the asymmetrical stall and the ensuing roll of the aircraft because of the uncommanded retraction of the left wing outboard leading edge slats and the loss of stall warning and slat disagreement indication systems resulting from maintenance-induced damage leading to the separation of the No. 1 engine and pylon assembly at a critical point during takeoff. The separation resulted from damage by improper maintenance procedures which led to failure of the pylon structure.
The hydraulic lines and followup cables of the drive actuator for the left wing's outboard leading edge slat were severed by the separation of the pylon and the left wing's outboard slats retracted during climbout. The retraction of the slats caused an asymmetric stall and subsequent loss of control of the aircraft.

[68Wooley]

Reminds me of an old Billy Conolly joke:

Guy's on a 747 crossing the Atlantic, when the captain comes on and tells them that they've lost an engine, but not to worry - the plane can fly just fine on three engines. They will, however be an hour late getting in to JFK.

An hour later, the captain comes on again and tells them they've lost a second engine, but again, not to worry - the plane will fly just fine on two engines. They will, however, be 2 hours late getting to JFK.

30 minutes later the captain announces they've lost a third engine and that the delay is now 3 and half hours.

At this point the guy turns to the woman next to him and says 'Christ, if this keeps up we'll be up here all night....'

[Spikes]

Originally posted by ChickenHawk
Words you never, ever want to hear.

Amen!

[eagl]

Ok, the engine landed safely.  What happened to the 737?

I admit I read only your post title and not the article, but I'm fascinated by these engines that can fall off and land safely.  Tell me more

[Hornet33]

Hey man, hey man, hey man.....how far can we go on one engine???

All the way to the scene of the crash. Which is handy because that's were we're going. Bet we beat the paramedics by 30 minutes.


Gotta love Ron White:aok

[Dago]

There have been previous cases of engines falling off aircraft.  It isn't exactly common, but has happened.  Results have been both okay, and bad.  Depends on how they are mounted, wing or aft fuselage, if they do any damage to the aircraft during seperation.

Do the research and you will understand.

[moot]

Dang, eagl beat me to it