Interesting 737 engine failure
Discussion
Passengers' Terror As US Plane Engine Falls Apart - Sky News
https://apple.news/A6G3MBuxBR36vvnSIrD9Iww
Not sure that link will work as it came off the apple news app. But looks like the front cowling just ripped off mid flight on a southwest 737! Doesn't look too catastrophic and it's unclear if the engine actually stopped working completely (thought the captain said they lost engine number 1... He may have shut it down though). But that would put the sts up me!
https://apple.news/A6G3MBuxBR36vvnSIrD9Iww
Not sure that link will work as it came off the apple news app. But looks like the front cowling just ripped off mid flight on a southwest 737! Doesn't look too catastrophic and it's unclear if the engine actually stopped working completely (thought the captain said they lost engine number 1... He may have shut it down though). But that would put the sts up me!
Jamesgt said:
That's incredible. That part has thousands of fasteners in it. I can't see how it can just fall apart. It has fallen apart btw. Parts of the nose cowl are still there.
The engine looks to be more or less intact (bar ingesting bits of cowl) so it doesn't seem to be the engine that's caused it to fail. Is there anything functional in that bit of the cowl?
There's a bit of bleed air for anti-icing/de-icing but nothing else. The aircraft also depressurised which is odd for a nacelle failure too so my guess would be the bleed air system was open to atmosphere after the failure and a valve was unable to be closed (usually in the wing root) to seal the leak but thats all very rough guesswork based on a few pics.
Looks like it depressurised as debris from the cowling damaged the fuselage. The second link shows damage to the pressure hull.
OK so here's a guess. Somehow the air flow over the engine cowling was disrupted, setting up vortex vibration, causing the cowling to fail through fatigue. Completely without evidence, but interesting to speculate
OK so here's a guess. Somehow the air flow over the engine cowling was disrupted, setting up vortex vibration, causing the cowling to fail through fatigue. Completely without evidence, but interesting to speculate
bearman68 said:
Looks like it depressurised as debris from the cowling damaged the fuselage. The second link shows damage to the pressure hull.
OK so here's a guess. Somehow the air flow over the engine cowling was disrupted, setting up vortex vibration, causing the cowling to fail through fatigue. Completely without evidence, but interesting to speculate
Damage to the wing root as well by the looks of it. What a weird incident - glad nobody got hurt and I look forward to finding out what happened. OK so here's a guess. Somehow the air flow over the engine cowling was disrupted, setting up vortex vibration, causing the cowling to fail through fatigue. Completely without evidence, but interesting to speculate
J4CKO said:
Well, it's gouged a hole in the outer skin and has struck the main wing where it blends to the body and struck tail plane on its way. Probably very strong parts of the structure but just imagine if it took the tail wing off or damaged the elevators (aielerons?).I wonder if the structure was fatigued on the port side.
Seems odd that the fuselage was impacted where it is. For debris to make it that far across would take some serious energy.
Also, note the position of the tube.
I wonder if the structure let go on the port side of the engine in some way and the cowl 'hinged' over to the starboard side.
Goodness knows hot it did that though.
Seems odd that the fuselage was impacted where it is. For debris to make it that far across would take some serious energy.
Also, note the position of the tube.
I wonder if the structure let go on the port side of the engine in some way and the cowl 'hinged' over to the starboard side.
Goodness knows hot it did that though.
bearman68 said:
OK so here's a guess. Somehow the air flow over the engine cowling was disrupted, setting up vortex vibration, causing the cowling to fail through fatigue. Completely without evidence, but interesting to speculate
That was my thought as well. Like a mk2 mondeo bumper...Gassing Station | Boats, Planes & Trains | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff