The Alaska Airlines Flight 558which departed in the morning hours from the airport of Seattle, in the state of Washington, heading to San Diegoin southern California, became a lucky disgrace.
According to the story of several passengers, and confirmation by the airline, minutes following takeoff a small noise was heard. Immediately, the aircraft – which was carrying 176 passengers and 6 crew members – began to vibrate unusually. Some passengers, who were sitting in seats by the window, saw pieces of metal detach from the plane.
“Flight 558 reported a unusual vibration of the left side of the aircraft, just past takeoff. The plane returned to the airport and landed without problems, “they indicated through a statement issued by the airline, with a summarized version of the events.
Amidst the vibrations, the plane landed without anyone being injured, but a passenger managed to capture with the camera of his phone the moment they touch the track. You can see how part of the hood (a removable metal casing for the engine) comes off at that moment.
“After the original noise, we started to slow down. Immediately the captain said that he felt an unusual vibration. There the crew informed us that they were looking for a place to land.”, One of the passengers told a local media.
Once back in Seattlethe 176 passengers were relocated to different flights to San Diego throughout the day. For the most part, they were able to board another flight that left two and a half hours later than the original.
The airline, although it did not give many details of the incident, in its statement it emphasized the professionalism of the pilots who handled the situation very well.
“The two pilots operating this flight have, combined, more than 32 years of flying experience. Their work, together with that of the cabin crew, ensured that the problem was resolved with great care and professionalism.”, they indicated from Alaska Airlines.
The plane is a Boeing 737-900ER which was immediately put out of circulation, while a team investigates the cause of the incident. Although the Boeing company has had many problems in recent years, this particular model is considered one of the safest on the market.
The BOEING 737-900 have, according to the specialized publication AirSafe, an incident rate of 0.007 for every one million flights. Significantly low compared to the regular BOEING 737 model, whose incident rate is 0.24 per million flights.
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