Engine cover falls off Boeing plane, strikes wing flap during Southwest Airlines flight
CHICAGO (CBS) -- It was a scary ride for passengers aboard a Houston-bound Southwest Airlines flight Sunday morning when an engine cover ripped off and struck the plane's wing. The incident forced the pilot to return to Denver International Airport for an emergency landing. It's the latest mechanical issue plaguing Boeing aircraft.
This time it was a Boeing 737-800 plane that suffered a malfunction.
After taking off around 7:40 a.m., Southwest Airlines flight 3695 was forced to circle back to Denver and landed about 35 minutes later.
The pilot at the helm is being praised for his quick action in handling the situation and landing the plane safely.
"Yeah, we're going to need some time. For now, everything is OK. And we don't even know the nature of it," the pilot said over the speaker. "But apparently several passengers and flight attendants heard something loud hit the wing, so we're just going to take our time getting set up and be ready to go. So thank you."
The issue turned out to be the plane's engine cowling, which came off after takeoff and struck the wing flap.
Shortly after the plane's emergency landing, a passenger took video that shows the damage.
While some passengers were shaken up, no injuries were reported.
The pilot is being credited with keeping everyone on board calm.
"He was pretty cool, calm and collected, so that kept everybody else on the plane pretty cool, calm and collected," one passenger said.
"When the captain came out to explain what had happened, the passengers gave him a round of applause," another passenger said. "It was really an amazing experience. I only realized when I got out of the gate what had happened."
Boeing had not released a statement Saturday afternoon about the incident, which is the latest in a series of mishaps with its planes across a number of airlines in recent months.
Meanwhile, Southwest Airlines apologized for the inconvenience and said it was able to get all passengers back in the air with only a 3-hour delay.
The incident is now under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration.
