Another Emergency Landing

[skyguy]

Last night an HP operated AB 320 lost an engine and had an emergency landing in SDF about 8:30/9:00 pm - about 140 people onboard.

Nobody injured, circled for about 30 minutes prior to landing. Passengers deplaned and sent to local hotels.

From all accounts flight crew handled situation well, and the staff at SDF leaped into action and took care of the passengers and crew.

 

[700UW]

Lost an engine?

Where did it go?

Did they lose power or did the engine fall off?

You need to clarify.

 

[jimntx]

Lost an engine?

Where did it go?

Did they lose power or did the engine fall off?

You need to clarify.

I got a good laugh out of your question. I was told that very thing happened at AA years ago on a 727. The left outboard engine fell off a 727 enroute DFW-SAN during some turbulence. The f/a called the cockpit and said, "Did you know you lost the left outboard engine?" The cockpit (thinking she meant that it shut down) said, "Yeah, no problem. This thing flies fine with only 2 engines?" (Their instrumentation just seemed to indicate that the engine shut down.)

As they were landing in SAN, the tower said, "Hey guys. Where did you lose the engine?"

Cockpit: "Oh,somewhere over Arizona. (Pause) Wait a minute. How did you know we lost an engine?"

Tower: "Because you're short one on your a/c. Isn't it supposed to have three?"

 

[A320 Driver]

Lost an engine?

Where did it go?

Did they lose power or did the engine fall off?

You need to clarify.

That's pilot talk for "engine failure".

A320 Driver B)

 

[autofixer]

It makes no sense they had engine failure and held for 30 minutes. You must land at the nearest suitable airport asap, even overweight. Something else must have been going on.

 

[soc-hpjester]

Compressor stall, and no, there is no such thing as an overweight landing on the a-320 with controlled sink rate.

 

[cactusboy53]

Maybe it took 30 minutes to get to the nearest suitable airport (Louisville). What a blessing! The junior "Rookies" at American Western have saved the day.

 

[as the prop turns]

Great Job You Guys or Girls!

 

[longing4piedmont]

A post on FT from a PAX on board the flight....

http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=701757

 

[exB717Flyer]

It makes no sense they had engine failure and held for 30 minutes. You must land at the nearest suitable airport asap, even overweight. Something else must have been going on.

I doubt they actually held, as in circling around for no good reason for 30 min. More likely they just did a thorough job of following the checklists and giving the cabin time to prepare. For a routine engine failure (no fire) there's simply no need to rush.

 

[bofie]

This is pasted from a FF website...


TRIP REPORT


Headed out to EWR this afternoon to catch my usual Thursday night flight to PHX (688). Upgraded to 1D about 5 days out. Got to security at terminal 1, total time through security from id check to bags out the x-ray machine no more than 5 minutes. Head to the AA club (no USAIR club at EWR) and camp out until time to board. I head for the gate, plane is there and boarding starts as I walk up to the gate. Second on board, stow the bags, have a seat. Cabin crew takes my blazer but no drinks before takeoff. Plane is a 320, clean and less threadbare than most of the USAIR planes I’ve been on this quarter. Plane boards well (it’s full) and we pull away from the gate about 6 minutes early. 25 minutes taxi time, take off, head west. Drinks and snacks start flowing, dinner (I had the new salad, very nice). I’m thinking this is going to be an easy flight for once. Movie starts.

Then the fun begins.

About 1 ¼ hours after take off a strange bump, then a shudder through the plane. People start lifting the shades to see if we have run into weather. I realize this really good flight has just gone bad. I turn to the guy sitting next to me and say “I think we just lost an engineâ€￾. Intercom bing and light goes on, front cabin attendant picks up the phone. Listens for a little bit, then puts the phone back and continues to serve. About 5 minutes later the captain comes on the cabin speakers, says the bang we heard (I heard no bang but I was listening to the movie and sitting way up front) was the left engine failing. Said everything else was fine, but that he had declared an emergency and we are diverting to the nearest airport. Comes back on a minute later and says he is working with operations to figure out where to head. 15 minutes and we get the word, its Louisville Ky. Soon we are circling the airport, visible through the windows. People start getting restless; the captain comes back on and give a complete analysis. One engine out but everyone else is working and fine, we can fly and land on one engine, etc. Says we are too heavy (he gave weights and burn rates for the fuel) and indicates we will have to circle for about 45 minutes before we are light enough to land. Passengers groan. Cabin crew appears unconcerned. They turn the movie back on, we get very close to the end of the movie and the word comes that we are landing. Movie gets shut off, passengers groan. (what, they want us to continue to circle so we can finish the movie?) Cabin crew gives normal landing instructions, landing smooth and fine. Emergency vehicles on the tarmac. Check the engine, no fire, we taxi to the gate. I call the CP angels, they book me on a connection through clt tomorrow. USAIR ops head in KY comes on board, sends us to ticket counter for room and meal vouchers, tell us a plane is on the way and we should get instructions late tonight on what time to regroup at the airport.

As I write this I’m sitting in the Executive Inn near the airport thinking about the experience. The flight crew appeared to do everything right, the kept the mood in the cabin as light as possible. Ground crew was expecting us, as was the hotel. This is the kind of incident the crews train for and they did a professional job.


One final note. For fun, checked the status of flight 688 on the US web site just now, shows an expected arrival time into PHX of 11:29pm, about 3 hours late. Looks like the IT guys are working their magic again.

One more final note. We made the late TV news here. "USAIR pilot loses engine, declares emergency, 143 passengers on board . . . " Ah, to be famous.


89557 miles and 57 segments as of 6/62007

 

[A320 Driver]

Compressor stall, and no, there is no such thing as an overweight landing on the a-320 with controlled sink rate.

Then they need to take the pages out of the manual dealing with overweight landings and replace them with "Controlled Sink Rate" landing.

In any case, I'm not sure I would hold single engine just to burn off fuel because of an overweight landing. It's just a maintenance inspection.

Must be more to the story.

A320 Driver B)

 

[awausairtech]

"Controlled Sink Rate" landing!!!GIVE ME A BREAK On a scare bus if that flying Coors can gets close to the runway you plant the sucker because you never know what fe fe will do next!!!( IF IT AN'T BOEING I AN'T GOING!!!)

 

[PHL]

I was told that very thing happened at AA years ago on a 727. The left outboard engine fell off a 727 enroute DFW-SAN during some turbulence....
As they were landing in SAN, the tower said, "Hey guys. Where did you lose the engine?"

Lost the engine over AZ and continued to SAN? Sounds like some urban legend mixed with truth to make for a good narrative.

 

[700UW]

Saw a NW 727 land in TPA with only two engines, lost it enroute from MIA.