Date & Time: 11/19/2007 00:25
Location: Denver, CO
Aircraft Type: Airbus A300B4-622R Registration: N740FD
Airline: FedEx
Phase: Landing
Damage: None
Injuries & Fatalities: none
Description: Tailstrike at landing in Denver
Date & Time: 11/17/2007 21:10
Location: Dallas, TX
Aircraft Type: Boeing 737 Registration: N/A
Airline: Southwest Airlines Flight: 438
Phase: Take-off
Damage: Unknown
Injuries & Fatalities: none
Description: Southwest Airlines flight 438, a Boeing 737, on departure experienced a vibration in the number 2 engine, engine sustained unknown damage, aircraft returned and landed without incident.
UPDATE: Visit: Follow-up – Southwest Engine Failure
Source: FAA
Correctness of this posting is not guaranteed & completeness not intended. This posting is just for informational purpose.
This is not true. It was not during takeoff. There was alot of damage. There was no vidration. It doesnt say anything about an uncontained explosion at 25,000ft. I was sitting on that engine watching it happen with my own two eyes. The fan blades shot out towards the plane leaving holes on the engine cowlings and a huge hole on th other side.There was no vidration, but a huge explosion. That report is false and they should really clean it up! The blades could have easily penatrated the fusalage causing a crash, or went through and killed a passenger. Southwest Airlines and the FAA need to clean up this report and let people know what really happened. I have pictures and I will let people see them if this doesn’t change!!!
Hi Joe,
all facts are taken from a FAA report. If those “facts” may be false, then the FAA reported incorrect information.
I would be glad if you could provide these pictures and give permission to publish them at this blog. Let people see them to tell the true facts! I’m sure many people would like to see these pics!
Please send them along with your story to admin AT flightstory.net
I was on this flight also- We all thought we were going to die! We said our goodbyes. There was an explosion and holes in the right engine with something sharp still sticking out of the engine. The plane started shaking so bad. The flight attendant was crying and one was getting oxygen because she was hyperventilating. They were able to turn the flight around and land with no incident but not before the longest 20 minutes back to the ground and the plane being surrounded by firetrucks. A big chunk of the engine flew off and luckily it went away from the aircraft because if it came toward us, we wouldn’t be here. The chunk was on the outer side of the engine not seen from our view but could be seen while walking off the aircraft. There were smaller holes though in our view of the top of the engine. I saw the pilots taking photos when we made it to the ground so hopefully the FAA will do the right thing and investigate how this could happen.
When an engine on a modern airplane has problems, the housing is designed to withstand a loss of the blades. they are designed to protect the passenger area. If an engine managed to explode in a fireball, it’s mostly likely going to take the whole plane out, and no one would have time to ‘say goodbye’
Sure it’s nerveracking, but everytime there is a plane issue, it makes the national news. that FAA description with a vibration and failure seems spot on’
Do you drive a different car after you have had an collision?
The FAA incident report website says “All information is preliminary and subject to change.”
The short report simply states the facts as gathered by investigators on the scene. Analysis and testing of the engine will be done by Boeing (aircraft manufacturer) or the engine manufacturer. The fact that the outboard engine housing is heavily damaged and the inboard (side facing the fuselage and passengers) is damaged so little reflects the level of safety built into the design. The engineers want the parts to get out of the engine as quickly and safely as possible to prevent more catastrophic damage. Further, aircraft of that size are designed to be able to fly on a single engine if necessary.
When I first saw the photos on a local news report, I immediately told my wife that fan blades came loose and were thrown out of the engine. I could tell what happened before the news said anything about it. It was nothing surprising or out of the ordinary.
I will not downplay how scary it was for the passengers. The vibrations were caused by a fast-turning, unbalanced (missing blades) engine. And at those speeds (engine RPMs and aircraft velocity), it certainly was scary. The fact that the flight attendants were scared or panicked is an indicator of how rarely these incidents happen. The pilots followed procedure very well and landed the plane safely with no injuries. It seems to me that, despite the mechanical failure, everything went right in this incident.
If some passengers can gather their thoughts and recover the events in a play by play, I would appreciate it. I just want to understand the sequence of events, from what the flight attendents were telling you to what the pilot was announcing and any drama unfolding from passengers from knowing they are probably going to perish.
Here are some questions that might help:
When you heard the explosion, were passengers typically unphased as experienced flyers are with turbulance and similar? What were you going through?
Was there an immediate response to remain seated? If so, did people remain seated?
What about oxygen masks being released and any emergency maneuvers exhibited in preflight demonstrations?
It was mentioned that Flight attendents exhibited stress. This is obviously human. Did this cause more to realize that they might die or was this more of a spontanous reaction among passengers as well?
Pilot obviously had to maintain focus but did they say anything during the shaking and turbulance?
When all was said and done, what left the greatest impression: the feeling that you almost died (traumatic mental stress) or the feeling from having escaped something life threatening (relief)?
Thanks.
My details are –
app. 7-8 minutes into the ascent there was a muffled sounding explosion with the subsequent vibrating which was obvious and the whirring noise that sounded grinding and troubled.
the 3 flight attendants were in the aisle maybe 60 seconds prior to this, starting to take drink orders.
I was seated 4th row from rear, middle seat, left side. the place was at capacity.
families and small children.
when this ‘explosion’ occurred the attendants immediately disappeared. there were no instructions given. there was a quiet hush in the cabin and everyone remained in their seats.
within a minute or so one of the pilots came from the front of the plane all the way to the rear, returning to the front, all at a very fast pace.
within a few seconds he then came to the wing area of the plane and looked out the window to the right wing for a few seconds. he then returned to the cabin.
I would guess app. 5 minutes into the ordeal, a pilot came on and said that we had lost an engine, that they had isolated it and shut off all connections to it and that the noise and vibration had ceased. He then said ‘we will return you to the Dallas airport as quickly and safely as possible.’
the only communication from any attendant was once we had landed and were back at the gate. I don’t remember her comments other than that she barely had control of herself and seemed a bit disoriented.
that is my recall of a very unsettling experience.
weird I fly southwest all the time there awsome. Im a pilot to!!!!
Southwest Airlines and the FAA need to clean up this report and let people know what really happened.