A plane from the American company Southwest Airlines had to make an emergency landing in the city of Denver (Colorado) this Sunday after the cover of one of its engines fell. The mishap adds to the list of incidents at the Boeing company in recent years. The world’s second largest commercial aircraft manufacturer is in the spotlight since the serious accidents it suffered in 2018 and 2019.
There were 135 passengers and six crew members on board the aircraft, who were not injured. Four hours later, the travelers were transferred to another plane. “We apologize for the inconvenience and delay, but we give full priority to maximum safety for our customers and employees. Our maintenance teams are inspecting the aircraft,” the airline said in a statement on Sunday.
The incident occurred at 8:15 on Sunday while the plane, model 737-800, was taking off towards Houston, in the state of Texas. However, 25 minutes later it had to return to Denver International Airport when the cover of one of its engines came off and hit a wing.
This event will be investigated by the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), since it is not the company’s first technical problem. In other investigations, the FAA uncovered dozens of quality control problems at both Boeing and its supplier Spirit AeroSystems.
The crisis that Boeing is experiencing began on October 29, 2018 on flight 610 of the Indonesian Lion Air. That day, the plane crashed into the Java Sea shortly after takeoff, killing all 189 occupants.
The following year, on March 10, 2019, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 also suffered an accident under similar circumstances. In this case, all 157 passengers who were on the plane died. As a result of these two accidents, dozens of countries around the world banned flights of the 737 family.
Without going any further, at the beginning of January 2024, shortly after the plane took off, a panel that acted as an emergency door from a Boeing 737 Max-9 of the Alaska Airlines airline detached. A report from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSA) revealed that the panel was not installed correctly and did not have four mounting screws.
