Boeing 737-300 N676SW

Summary

On 17 November 2007 at about 20:55 local time, a Boeing 737-300 registered N676SW was involved in an incident near Greenville, Texas, United States. 138 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was slightly damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

17 November 2007 at 20:55

Classification

Incident

Location

Greenville, Texas, United States

Nearest airport

Love Field (DAL)

Coordinates

33.1911, -95.9783

Aircraft

Boeing 737-300

Registration

N676SW

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Dallas → Little Rock

Aircraft damage

Minor

Weather

VMC

NTSB number

ENG08IA002

Nobody was injured.

A total loss of engine power due to the No. 2 engine experiencing a release of its fan spinner through the fan cowl as a result of an unidentified object striking the spinner, separating it from the fan disk and causing the spinner to be ingested into the fan blades.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The airplane experienced a failure of the No. 2 engine while climbing through flight level (FL) 250 to FL 330. The flight crew reported feeling severe vibration, pulled both throttles back to idle, declared an emergency, made an air turn back and performed an uneventful single-engine landing. Examination of the engine revealed that all the fan blades exhibited heavy airfoil damage, with several fractured near the platform. The forward and rear spinner cones were no longer attached to the fan disk and a large penetration hole was noted on the right-hand side of the fan cowl, just forward of the engine fan case. Examination of the airplane revealed impact marks along the right side of the fuselage and the right-hand horizontal stabilizer. None of the fuselage impacts were through to the cabin. The pieces of the forward and rear spinners cones that exited the engine were never recovered. Metallurgical examination of the fracture surfaces of the fan blades and the fragments of the rear spinner aft flange revealed no preexisting fatigue-type mechanism and all the fractures were consistent with overstress. Four sequential fan blade spacers were distorted consistent with a severe axial load rearward applied to the spacers by the rear spinner cone prior to the spinner cone release; however, no determination could be made as to the initial failure or what may have impacted the spinner cone.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.