A Houston-bound Southwest Airlines’ Boeing 737 was forced to return to Denver after the engine cover fell off the plane and struck the wing flap – shortly after take-off.
The flight returned safely to Denver International airport and the passenger were headed to Houston in another aircraft, Southwest Airlines said in a statement.
“We apologise for the inconvenience of their delay, but place our highest priority on ultimate safety for our customers and employees. Our maintenance teams are reviewing the aircraft,” Southwest Airlines said in a statement.
About 135 passengers and six crew members were on board the aircraft, which hit an altitude of 3,140m (10,300ft) before making an abrupt U-turn just 25 minutes later.
Passengers filmed videos from their window seats and posted them on social media.
The clips have gone viral on the internet, in which the pilot can be heard calling for an emergency landing. “We have a piece of the engine cowling hanging off, apparently,” the pilot is heard saying.
It is pertinent to mention here that a cowling is the removable covering of the vehicle’s engine. These covering used to cover engines vehicles and aircraft.
The plane was manufactured in 2015 according to regulator Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) records, and the 737-800 is an earlier generation of the 737 from the latest Max model.
Several engine issues on 737-800s belonging to Southwest have been reported recently – and this was the second incident in under a week.
Three days earlier, one of these planes aborted take-off from Texas after an engine fire, and the service was abruptly cancelled.
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