The law of series continues for the American company. A Southwest Airlines plane was forced to turn around Sunday morning shortly after takeoff. The machine had just taken off from Denver (Colorado), in the United States, to go south to Houston (Texas). It was then that the cowling protecting the right engine of the Boeing 737-800 partly detached from the aircraft at an altitude of more than 3,140 meters.
In images of the incident that have gone viral on social networks, the pilot announces an
“immediate return”
to the boarding gate. Nearly 30 minutes after takeoff, Southwest flight 3695 then relanded without difficulty at its starting point, at 8:15 a.m. local time (4:15 p.m. French time). As a safety measure, the plane was towed to the gate. The 135 passengers and their luggage were transported aboard another plane, safe and sound, before arriving in Houston four hours later than originally scheduled.
Boeing apology
On social networks, the American company apologized after one of the passengers called out to it:
“We are truly sorry for any concern caused this morning”
. The American channel ABC News also broadcast images of the torn hood beating the sides of the engine, still attached to the wing, on its antenna.
Faced with the scale of the outcry, Southwest declared that maintenance teams were examining the aircraft, which entered service in June 2015. However, it refused to specify the date of the last maintenance operation on the aircraft. engine. For its part, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has opened an investigation to find out the causes of this incident, according to Reuters. She has already questioned the six members of the flight crew, who explained that
"the hood fell during takeoff and was hitting the flap"
, which is used to reduce the speed of the machine.
Serial investigations
This incident is the latest in a long series involving the American manufacturer. Since the start of the year, dozens of incidents have taken place on board Boeing planes. The latest was Thursday evening when another Southwest Boeing 737 scheduled to depart from Lubbock Preston Smith Airport in Texas was canceled just before takeoff after the crew reported engine problems. The pilot mentions
“overheating of the brakes”
and
“a fire in the left engine”
.
The most shocking undoubtedly remains that of January 5. On an Alaska Airlines flight that day, a door plug tore off, tearing off part of the cabin and causing injuries. The next day, the company paid $1,500 to each of the passengers on the flight to
“cover all related expenses”
caused by the incident. It is therefore difficult to know when Boeing will emerge from its zone of turbulence…