Terrifying Southwest Flight: Engine Cover Rips Off, Forces Emergency Landing

 A Southwest Airlines flight from Denver on Sunday morning returned to the airport after part of the engine fell off during takeoff and struck the wing flap of the plane, a Boeing 737, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The FAA said Southwest flight 3695 arrived back at Denver International Airport around 8:15 a.m. MDT Sunday after the crew reported the engine cowling—a hood-like cover for the plane’s engine—fell off while the plane was taking off and struck the plane’s wing flap.

There were no reported injuries, and the Boeing 737, which was supposed to land in Houston, was towed to the gate after returning to Denver.

Video of the incident shared on social media shows a piece of the engine cover barely hanging as the crew lands the plane.

On Thursday, a Southwest flight left Lubbock, Texas, and returned to its gate after the flight crew reported a possible engine fire, according to Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport.

The incident comes at a moment of scrutiny for Boeing, which has faced criticism in recent months after a string of incidents called into question the safety of the manufacturers' 737 Max 9 jets.. A January Alaskan Airlines incident led to a nation-wide grounding of Boeing 737 Max 9 jets in the U.S. That incident also resulted in a handful of investigations into the planes, including by the FAA. A National Transportation Safety Board investigation into that incident found the Alaska Airlines jet was missing bolts attaching the door plug to the aircraft. The recent attention on Boeing airplanes follows a more-than-a-year long grounding of 737 Max jets beginning in March 2019 because of 2018 and 2019 crashes caused by faulty flight control systems.