Southwest Airlines plane’s engine breaks apart midflight - NY Daily News
▻http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/southwest-airlines-plane-lands-fla-engine-malfunction-article-1.2768491
SWA PILOTS’ ASSN. VIA TWITTER
A Southwest Airlines jet bound for Orlando, Fla., was forced to make an emergency landing in Pensacola after one of its engines fell apart over the Gulf of Mexico.
Startled passengers on board Flight 3472 from New Orleans heard a frightening blast to the aircraft’s left at an altitude of 30,700 feet. Outside their windows, they saw smoke fuming from the exposed turbine blades at around 9:20 a.m. Saturday.
“All of a sudden, outside my window, there was a loud explosion, and then the plane started shuddering,” passenger Tami Richards told KOCO-TV.
Chunks of the engine’s cowling had fallen off, according to photos taken from the aircraft’s window midflight. Another photo shows a metal object had pierced the fuselage.