The Region - News from April 18, 1985

A 2,000-pound engine that fell off an American Airlines jetliner before the Boeing 727 landed safely in San Diego with 89 people aboard was recovered in the New Mexico desert. An airline crew spotted the smashed engine pod about 26 miles east of Deming, a town of about 16,000 in the southwest corner of New Mexico. Crew members on the disabled plane knew that one of the jet’s three engines had conked out but were stunned to find out upon landing at San Diego’s Lindbergh Field that the tail-mounted engine had ripped off the plane. Boeing officials said the 727 is “perfectly airworthy with two engines.”