Date & Time: 03/11/2009 08:17
Location: New York, NY
Aircraft Type: McDonnell Douglas MD80 Registration: Unknown
Operator: American Airlines Flight: AAL309
Phase: Take-off
Damage: Unknown
Injuries & Fatalities: None
Description: American Airlines flight 309 bound for Chicago, on departure from New York LaGuardia airport, number one engine failed. The aircraft was diverted to New York JFK airport and landed without incident. Several media reported that engine fragments fell onto the roof of a Queens industrial park.
According to WCBSTV eye-witnesses reported: “We heard a loud bang and then a few seconds later you heard metal sweeping across the roof,” said Rick Bellini, an employee inside the industrial building where the debris landed.
The shards pierced the rubber roof, some a little smaller than a BlackBerry, others much bigger. A skylight was cracked, as were car windows, while the parking lot was covered with tiny pieces of what appeared to be titanium.
“We heard a very, very loud sonic boom or explosion, followed immediately thereafter of about 30 to 45 seconds of debris raining down, everybody was quite alarmed. We immediately suspected it was a problem with a plane,” said employee Bob Bellini. “We didn’t know if a plane had gone down or was going down.”
Full story: http://wcbstv.com/breakingnewsalerts/engine.failure.nyc.2.956247.html
Source: FAA & WCBSTV / CBS