The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) produce reports on any incidents and publish them on their site. Here’s one from last week, detailing “vibration in the number 2 engine”. The plane turned back and landed “without incident”.
Here’s the report…
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** Report created 11/27/2007 Record 1 **
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IDENTIFICATION
Regis#: SWA438 Make/Model: B737 Description: 737
Date: 11/17/2007 Time: 2110
Event Type: Incident Highest Injury: None Mid Air: N Missing: N
Damage: Unknown
LOCATION
City: DALLAS State: TX Country: US
DESCRIPTION
SOUTHWEST AIRLINES FLIGHT 438, A BOEING 737, ON DEPARTURE EXPERIENCED A
VIBRATION IN THE NUMBER TWO ENGINE, ENGINE SUSTAINED UNKNOWN DAMAGE,
AIRCRAFT RETURNED AND LANDED WITHOUT INCIDENT, DALLAS, TX
INJURY DATA Total Fatal: 0
# Crew: 0 Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:
# Pass: 0 Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:
# Grnd: Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:
WEATHER: NOT REPORTED
OTHER DATA
Activity: Business Phase: Take-off Operation: Air Carrier
FAA FSDO: DALLAS, TX (SW05) Entry date: 11/19/2007
Now, it doesn’t seem all that bad until you look at the pictures (below) or read comments from passengers on board…
Hmmm.. It makes you think that the FAA isn’t totally telling the truth..