Jet Lands Safely After an Engine Rips From Plane Over New Mexico

An American Airlines Boeing 727 carrying 81 passengers and nine crew members landed safely at Lindbergh Field at noon Tuesday, 45 minutes after one of its three jet engines dropped off over Deming, N.M., officials reported. There were no injuries.

FAA officials reported that Flight 199, en route from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport to San Diego, was flying at 35,000 feet over the southwest corner of New Mexico when the pilot reported that his No. 3 engine had “seized.”

Jim Bea, air traffic manager for the Lindbergh control tower, said the airport was put on “alert status” when the pilot, identified only as Capt. Griesser, notified the tower of minor difficulties.

“When the plane passed the tower, we noticed the No. 3 engine was missing,” Bea said.

The 727 has three engines in the tail section of the aircraft. One is within the fuselage and one is mounted on each side. The right engine had cleanly broken away.

According to Tom Cole, a spokesman for Boeing Commercial Airplane Co., the 727 is “designed for this to happen. When the engine stops all of a sudden, seizes up for some reason and stops, it tends to wrench the engine severely and twist.”

Cole said that, to avoid damage to the plane, the engine is designed to drop off.

Another spokesman said the design of the aircraft incorporates a “break-away” feature enabling engines to fall off “in such a manner that they won’t damage the control surfaces--tail, wing.”

Cole said that engine drop-outs have happened a “couple of times.” On April 30, 1974, an engine dropped off a National Airlines flight out of El Paso, Tex.

Cole added that many aircraft, including Boeing’s older 707s, incorporate “shear bolts” in their engine mounts, to allow the engine to drop off.

According to American Airlines spokesman Joe Stroop, the pilot did not know the plane had lost an engine.

“You can’t see the engine from the cockpit,” Stroop said.

“We don’t know why the engine separated,” said Linda Johnson, a spokeswoman for American Airlines. “We still don’t have any idea where it is.”

After landing, the jet was taxied to a PSA hangar, where investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board were trying to determine the cause of the engine separation.

According to Ernest Dominguez, Federal Aviation Administration manager for the Albuquerque air traffic control center, the airplane was flying over Deming, about 100 miles west of El Paso, when the incident occurred. He said there were “some scattered clouds” but otherwise it was good flying weather.

John Gorman, assistant air traffic manager for the center, said, “The pilot reported a malfunction and requested a lower altitude and we gave it to him.”

A passenger on the flight, Audrey Ward, said that about an hour after the plane left Dallas, there was a “tremendous bang. Like a big explosion.”

“The plane started moving side to side, and the oxygen bags started dropping down. The plane shuddered,” Ward said.

“I yelled out, ‘Dear God, I can’t believe this.’

“The pilot said, ‘Obviously you passengers in the back of the plane know that we have a problem. We felt the vibrations in the cockpit and we’re checking on it.’ ”

A few minutes later, Ward said, the pilot announced, “The engine isn’t turning and we don’t anticipate any problems.”

She said the pilot had lowered the plane’s altitude.

“By this time, we had dropped from 35,000 feet to 2,000 feet,” she said. “I mean we were flying low. We were really close to the ground.”

She said the pilot announced, “We are

trying to determine whether to go into the next airport (Phoenix) or continue to San Diego.” Later he said, “We’re 55 minutes away from San Diego and were going in.”

“Those 55 minutes were the longest in my entire life,” she said. “I’m not planning to travel for awhile. It was a very emotional experience.

“When we touched down, we applauded.”

Boeing began selling 727s in 1964. American Airlines purchased 167 of them.

NTSB investigator Al Crawford said the cause of the incident is under investigation and that law enforcement agencies in Arizona were searching for the engine.

Crawford said the cause will not be known until federal officials interview the crew and Boeing personnel--and the engine is found and inspected.