A Southwest Airlines jet bound for Orlando, Fla., was forced to make an emergency landing in Pensacola after one of its engines fell apart over the Gulf of Mexico.
Startled passengers on board Flight 3472 from New Orleans heard a frightening blast to the aircraft’s left at an altitude of 30,700 feet. Outside their windows, they saw smoke fuming from the exposed turbine blades at around 9:20 a.m. Saturday.
“All of a sudden, outside my window, there was a loud explosion, and then the plane started shuddering,” passenger Tami Richards told KOCO-TV.
Chunks of the engine’s cowling had fallen off, according to photos taken from the aircraft’s window midflight. Another photo shows a metal object had pierced the fuselage.
The Oklahoma City resident said her three children — and many of the 99 passengers — were crying as the oxygen masks dropped and the Boeing 737 made its dramatic descent about 25 minutes into the flight.
“I held my kids, and one was freaking out, crying,” Richards added.
Amid the panic, some passengers took selfies while donning the oxygen masks.
The pilots managed to stabilize the aircraft and made the quick-thinking decision to divert the flight to Pensacola with only one working engine. By 9:40, the plane was on the ground without any further mishap.
Southwest Airlines blamed an unspecified mechanical issue with the engine and said the National Transportation Safety Board would be investigating what it described as an “uncontained engine failure,” officials said in a statement.
The aircraft was out of service until further notice, the airline added.
Boeing will be aiding the NTSB investigation as a technical adviser, according to the Wall Street Journal. The engine was manufactured by General Electric.
None of the passengers or five crewmembers was hurt during the incident.
The union for Southwest Airlines pilots tweeted a photo of the broken engine and commended the captain for landing the diverted flight safely in Pensacola.
“A great job today by our professional @SouthwestAir pilots! The best safety device is always a well-trained pilot,” the union wrote.