DC-10 Lands as Engine Breaks Up

A Northwest Airlines DC-10 en route from Los Angeles to Minneapolis on Wednesday made an emergency landing in Denver after the jet’s No. 2 engine apparently began breaking up and the pilot shut it down, officials said.

Flight 308, carrying 256 people, landed at Stapleton International Airport Wednesday about 6:30 p.m. without incident or injury, according to Richard Boulware, a spokesman at the airport.

“They experienced a severe vibration from the No. 2 engine, (and) as a precautionary measure, they elected to make an unscheduled landing in Denver,” said Northwest spokesman Kevin Whalen from the Minneapolis area, where the airline is based.

The No. 2 engine of a DC-10 also is the focus of an investigation into the disaster of United Airlines Flight 232 last month. The flight from Denver was over Iowa when the engine apparently disintegrated.

Boulware, who observed the damage to the aircraft after it landed Wednesday night, said there were “multiple shrapnel-like holes in the outer cowling” of the No. 2 engine, which on a DC-10 is mounted in the vertical stabilizer at the tail of the aircraft. The other two engines are mounted under the wings.

“One of the holes was big enough I could have stuck my hand through,” he said.