Search for Parts in Engine Failure

The National Transportation Safety Board is revising and broadening its search for engine components that fell to the ground in a sparsely populated area of Texas in the wake of an uncontained engine failure involving a Southwest Airlines flight from Dallas, TX to Little Rock, AK on Nov. 17, 2007. Pieces of the fan blades and the spinner separated from the Boeing 737-300’s (N676SW) #2 (right) engine at an altitude of 25,000 feet during the climb phase of flight. The crew shut down the damaged engine and returned safely to Dallas on power from the #1 (left) engine. In December, NTSB engineers developed a Ballistic Trajectory Analysis using data such as the aircraft ground track, speed, prevailing winds and other factors, to create a clearly defined search area where the engine pieces were most likely to be found. In January, after the map of the search area was provided to authorities in the local community, area landowners provided the NTSB with engine parts that they had discovered. Still missing, however, and key to the investigation, is the spinner.