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The US Federal Aviation Administration said it would investigate a fresh mishap involving a Boeing aircraft, after a piece of engine housing fell off a Southwest Airlines plane on Sunday morning.
Footage posted on social media appears to show the 737-800 aircraft rolling down the runway at Denver International airport as the right engine covering begins to disintegrate.
“The crew reported the engine cowling fell off during take-off and struck the wing flap,” according to the FAA, which added that the plane returned safely and was towed to the gate.
Sunday’s incident comes at a sensitive time for Boeing, which has been battling to reassure passengers since January, when passengers aboard an Alaska Airlines flight watched in horror as a door panel on their Boeing plane blew out in mid-air.
The company has cut the rate at which it produces 737 Max planes as it seeks to resolve manufacturing flaws, resulting in delivery delays that have forced some airlines to amend their flight schedules. It has also been in talks to acquire Spirit AeroSystems, the troubled fuselage supplier it spun off nearly 20 years ago.
Boeing’s chief executive, Dave Calhoun, announced last month that he would step down at the end of the year, part of a broad overhaul of top management at the US aircraft manufacturer, which has warned it will burn more cash in the first quarter than previously expected because of the crisis.
January’s incident involved a 737 Max that had been delivered to Alaska only weeks earlier, raising questions about Boeing’s quality-control procedures and recalling the unease surrounding the new Max variant after two of the planes crashed in 2019 and 2020.
By contrast, the incident on Sunday involved a nine-year-old plane belonging to the older 737-800 variant.
Regulators looking for the cause of an accident or incident typically scrutinise the aircraft’s maintenance history, the actions of crew and ground staff, and the operating procedures of the airline, as well as checking for possible problems with manufacturing or design.
Boeing referred questions about the aircraft involved in Sunday’s incident to Southwest, which said its maintenance teams were reviewing the aircraft.
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