A typically 90-minute flight turned into a 20-hour ordeal last week when a plane suffered an engine failure after taking off from Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix.
It happened on Friday, March 31 on a Southwest Airlines flight from Phoenix to Burbank, California. Just after takeoff, one of the engines began having a mechanical issue.
The pilot immediately turned the plane around and landed at Sky Harbor out of an abundance of caution.
<b>PILOT:</b> <i>Southwest 9010 has just had an engine failure.</i> <b>CONTROLLER:</b> <i>Southwest 9010, say again?</i> <b>PILOT:</b> <i>Southwest 9010 – catastrophic engine failure. Emergency aircraft, and standby.</i> <b>CONTROLLER:</b> <i>9010 Roger, let me know what you need.</i> Audio obtained by ABC 15 Phoenix
The plane was taken out of service to get repairs and another plane was brought in to complete the flight for the 116 passengers.
There were some reports of debris falling near the airport, but Southwest has neither confirmed nor denied that.