Southwest 737 Shed Parts Over East Texas In November

In its investigation of an uncontained engine failure that occurred on a Southwest Airlines flight from Dallas, TX (Love Field), to Little Rock, AR on November 17, the National Transportation Safety Board is searching for engine components that fell to the ground in a sparsely populated rural area of northeastern Texas.

As ANN reported, Flight 438 returned to DAL after the number two engine on the Boeing 737-300 failed. Pictures of the engine nacelle show a gaping hole in the outboard exterior of the engine fairing, and minor damage to the plane's fuselage.

Despite earlier assertions by Southwest the jet experienced "a vibration" shortly after takeoff, necessitating the emergency landing, the NTSB agrees with passenger reports of the incident -- that pieces of the fan blades and the spinner separated from the right engine.

The NTSB says the incident occurred as the plane climbed through FL250, over Hunt County. The crew shut down the damaged engine and returned safely to Dallas on power from the number one engine. None of the 133 passengers or 5 crewmembers on board the B-737-300 (N676SW) aircraft were injured.

NTSB engineers developed a Ballistic Trajectory Analysis using data such as the aircraft ground track, speed, prevailing winds and other factors, to create an area where the engine pieces are most likely to be found. The area is approximately 0.4 miles wide and 1.7 miles long, and is located on private property. 

The owners of the property whose land is in the identified area will be contacted by the Hunt County sheriff's office and will be asked to notify the sheriff if an aircraft engine part is discovered. Because these engine parts and the exact location of discovery are essential to its investigation, the NTSB stresses parts should not be handled by the public, but instead should be marked in place.

If found, the NTSB asks people to contact the Hunt County sheriff's office at (903) 453-6800 -- and stresses anyone volunteering to search for these items to respect private property rights, and get permission of the landowner before searching on another's property.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov, www.southwest.com