The Boeing 737-700 crew decided to return to the airport “after receiving a cockpit indication of a performance issue with one of the aircraft engines. Following established protocol and procedures, the pilots completed an uneventful landing,” Southwest Airlines statement
Taken from one of the passengers aboard Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700, registration N431WN performing flight WN-604 from Salt Lake City, UT to Los Angeles, CA (USA) with 110 people on board, the following interesting video shows the aircraft right engine suffering a compressor stall 25 minutes after the takeoff.
According to the video description, the Boeing was climbing out Salt Lake City when the crew reported they were experiencing an engine compressor stall. The crew leveled off at 10,000 feet, shut down the engine, and returned safely to Salt Lake City.
As reported by CNN passenger Crystal Bangerter was taking her first flight ever when she saw “huge flames just coming right out of the engine.” “Suddenly there was a huge explosion,” she explained. “I kinda looked over and saw the look on my husband’s face, and I knew right away that this wasn’t normal.”
Passenger Traci Scarce said she heard a loud pop that sounded like a boom. “What do you do? You’ve got shooting flames out the engine. It’s crazy,” Scarce told the station.
Southwest Flight 604 left its gate in Salt Lake City around 6:38 a.m., according to tracking site FlightAware, and landed back at Salt Lake City International Airport around 7:20 a.m. Throughout the ordeal, the crew stayed calm and landed the plane safely, passenger Torrence Elegante pointed out.
Passengers took another plane to Los Angels.
The pilots decided to return to the airport “after receiving a cockpit indication of a performance issue with one of the aircraft engines. Following established protocol and procedures, the pilots completed an uneventful landing,” Southwest said in a statement to CNN affiliate KTVX.