Mon, Feb 16, 2009
With 118 Passengers Aboard, Plane Lands Safely
A Southwest Airlines 737-700 enroute from Las Vegas' McCarran
International Airport (LAS) to New York's Long Island Islip
MacArthur Airport (ISP) last Thursday returned to its point of
departure after developing engine trouble on climbout.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said that
soon after takeoff, the 737's right engine caught fire. The flight
crew shut down the engine and returned to LAS, where the plane with
118 passengers aboard landed safely and taxied to the gate.
By the time the aircraft landed, there was no visible smoke or
fire coming from the engine, Southwest spokesman Paul Flanigan
said. The plane was escorted to parking by airport fire and rescue
crews. Clark County Fire Department spokesman Karl Lee told the Las
Vegas Sun no one was injured in the incident.
Passengers were placed on another flight and departed for the
second time, delayed about three hours by the ordeal. The original
plane was towed to a Southwest maintenance hangar on the airport
for investigation, and ultimately, repair.
FlightAware.com online flight tracking shows
the flight departed LAS at 3:09 pm, headed for ISP. Upon reaching
an altitude of about 7,000 feet, the Boeing 737-700 began to
descend and reversed course in a sweeping right turn back to the
west - and LAS.
Witness Jeff Kinney is an assistant professor in the Department
of Psychology at UNLV, near McCarran's north-south flight path.
Kinney described being in his office, hearing "popping sounds" and
seeing small flames shooting from a Southwest jet's engine as it
climbed out of McCarran Thursday afternoon.
"It was probably a couple hundred feet lower than most of them
and it was making a different sound so it caught my attention,"
Kinney said.
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are
investigating.
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