A Southwest Airlines flight returned safely to Denver International Airport on Sunday after the engine cover of a Boeing 737-800 fell off mid-flight and hit a wing flap, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
Flight 3695 was bound for Houston but returned to the Denver airport around 8:15 a.m. after the crew reported that the engine cowling, or cover, had fallen off.
The plane, with 135 passengers and five crew members, was towed back to the gate. The FAA said it would investigate.
In a statement, Southwest Airlines said its maintenance teams were examining the aircraft. Southwest said the passengers boarded another plane and arrived at William P. Hobby Airport in Houston about three hours behind schedule.
“We apologize for the inconvenience of their delay, but place our highest priority on the ultimate safety for our customers and employees,” the statement said.
A video taken from a window near the wing of the plane posted on social media showed a blue cowling peeling off the engine and spinning in the air as the plane moved down a runway before a large part of it finally fell off.
“Go ahead and declare an emergency for Southwest 3695 and we want an immediate return,” a crew member said, according to air traffic controller radio transmissions. “We have a piece of the engine cowling hanging off.”
The incident comes amid increased scrutiny of other commercial air travel episodes, starting with the shocking January 5 emergency on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 in which a panel known as a door plug blew off. a new Boeing 737 Max 9, which was delivered to the airline just a few months ago.
No one died but it triggered investigations into Boeing’s Max 9 and raised questions about quality control problems in its plane’s production.
Then came a string of eight episodes last month involving United Airlines aircraft over a two-week period.
Maintenance issues, loose tires and missing panels are among the issues plaguing the six Boeing and two Airbus jets. A safety expert said such cases are common and “mistakenly lumped in with Boeing’s problems.”
