streetcar76
Newbie
- Sep 21, 2005
- 2
- 0
In 1995 I was a member of the Albuquerque Aviation Police at the Albuquerque International Airport.
I was assigned to the air operations patrol late one night, when I received a call indicating that an American Airlines MD-80, with some 92 passengers aboard, enroute from Charlotte, NC to LAX, was declaring an emergency with one engine out, and landing at Albuquerque. The aircraft landed without incident and taxied to a gate to deplane the passengers. I was outside on the ramp watching a mechanic open the cowl on the right engine, which is mounted on the fuselage back near the tail.
I noticed the pilot and first officer approaching and also heard the mechanic whistle, as he said "holy crap". The pilot asked him what the problem was. The mechanic called down that the engine had been hit by something, that there was a hole about 3 inches in diameter in the top of the cowl and there was a big crack in the compressor housing. The engine had come very close to blowing up! I spoke with the pilot who told me that they were flying at 39,000 feet and suddenly there was a muffled "thump" and the aircraft rolled slightly to the right, as if hit by something. He said the right engine began to lose power, it's generator popped offline and temperature readings went off the chart. They were afraid it might catch fire, so they shut it down. The next day I checked with the mechanics who were in the process of removing the engine to replace it. They said one thing was certain: That the engine had been penetrated from above, as the metal around the hole was bent inward and that they found a sandy grey residue at the point of impact on the compressor housing, that was splattered out in all directions, as if it had been traveling at high speed. Although meteorites are constantly entering our atmosphere, I would think that an incident such as this, is one in a million.
I was assigned to the air operations patrol late one night, when I received a call indicating that an American Airlines MD-80, with some 92 passengers aboard, enroute from Charlotte, NC to LAX, was declaring an emergency with one engine out, and landing at Albuquerque. The aircraft landed without incident and taxied to a gate to deplane the passengers. I was outside on the ramp watching a mechanic open the cowl on the right engine, which is mounted on the fuselage back near the tail.
I noticed the pilot and first officer approaching and also heard the mechanic whistle, as he said "holy crap". The pilot asked him what the problem was. The mechanic called down that the engine had been hit by something, that there was a hole about 3 inches in diameter in the top of the cowl and there was a big crack in the compressor housing. The engine had come very close to blowing up! I spoke with the pilot who told me that they were flying at 39,000 feet and suddenly there was a muffled "thump" and the aircraft rolled slightly to the right, as if hit by something. He said the right engine began to lose power, it's generator popped offline and temperature readings went off the chart. They were afraid it might catch fire, so they shut it down. The next day I checked with the mechanics who were in the process of removing the engine to replace it. They said one thing was certain: That the engine had been penetrated from above, as the metal around the hole was bent inward and that they found a sandy grey residue at the point of impact on the compressor housing, that was splattered out in all directions, as if it had been traveling at high speed. Although meteorites are constantly entering our atmosphere, I would think that an incident such as this, is one in a million.
