Posted on 03/07/2024 7:22:08 AM PST by V_TWIN
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A United flight from Houston to Fort Myers had to turn around Monday when one of the plane's engines caught fire.
Several of the 167 passengers on board Flight 1118 took a video showing a line of flames shooting out of the engine.
"I remember there was just this bright, flashing light that came through the window, and it sounded like a bomb went off, and then it was just a strobe of fire out the window," David Gruninger, who was on the connecting flight home to Florida with 15 of his friends after attending a wedding in Mexico, said.
FlightAware data shows the Boeing 737 taking off from George Bush Intercontinental Airport at 6:40 p.m. It barely left the Houston area when it turned around at 6:52 p.m.
"The plane was nosediving, and the pilot was bringing the plane back up," passenger Elliot Trexler said. "The plane was also rocking back and forth a lot."
"And then it just turned into chaos. People were screaming and crying and trying to figure out what was going on," Gruninger said.
Radio transmissions from the plane shed some light on the issues it was having.
"It was our left engine, our number one engine, that was surging when we were climbing through about 10,000 (feet), and flight attendants saw momentary flames back there," a pilot can be heard saying.
(Excerpt) Read more at abc13.com ...
Another Boeing 737
Compressor stall...saw the video.
Are the darn things cursed or what? 🤷
Never have we seen so many horrible issues with airplane flight.
Diversity hire pilot exceeded allowed angle of attack on climb out?
Absorbing McDonnell-Douglass combined with embracing wokeness is killing Boeing.
Back when planes had four engines, the pilot could kill one and still fly pretty good. Now with only two, that is not as easy.
I’m reading that there’s a terrible shortage of competent aircraft mechanics. And/or DEI is putting incompetent people into the job.
I won’t blame Boeing for this...they don’t make the engines. In fact in a lot of cases the airline specifies which engines the aircraft they buy will be fitted with, so one airline’s planes will have Pratt & Whitney, the next can have GE, and the next may have Rolls-Royce. May or may not be true for the 737s. I’ve been away from the industry for almost 15 years now.
These days, the size and thrust those engines put out, not that difficult. Now if it was, as someone pointed out, a compressor stall and you don’t deal with it properly, you’ll have issues with the surging (again, big monster engines surging can feel like you’re on a roller coaster ride.)
Bird strike. Not a diversity hire issue. Pilot was calm and professional...handled it perfectly.
Yes...and the ground crews...no puedo hablar ingles...
Agreed. I have been on 4 flights where the jet experienced compressor stall. Scary the first time, more of an inconvenience .
Bird strike? For Heavens sakes, what have they got to go on strike about? Is this a pay issue or about union dues again?
Seems deliberate. All the issues…
That’s a bird strike? What did they hit, a pterodactyl?
What is that from?
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