If your travels will take you anytime soon into the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, the NTSB wants you to keep an eye open for stray GE CF34 engine pieces. On Jan. 25, an America West Express Bombardier regional jet en route from Denver to Phoenix was climbing through 24,000 feet when it experienced an uncontained engine failure. The left engine cowling, fan and other forward components separated over sparsely populated mountainous terrain in an area beginning just south of Woodland Park, Colo., and running south-southwest to 10 miles southwest of Cripple Creek. Anyone who finds debris shouldn’t handle it but should contact the Teller County sheriff’s department (719-687-9652) and relay the location, estimated size and description of the parts. The twinjet’s flight crew declared an emergency and immediately returned and landed uneventfully at the Denver International Airport. There were 50 passengers and four crew on board, and nobody was hurt. The aircraft sustained minor damage to the fuselage, left engine pylon and tail section during the uncontained engine failure. A team is working to correlate radar records with data from the airplane’s flight recorders in an effort to pinpoint the potential locations of the engine parts.
NTSB Seeks Lost Engine Debris
Key Takeaways:
- An America West Express regional jet experienced an uncontained engine failure over the Colorado Rocky Mountains, causing parts of its left GE CF34 engine to separate and fall to the ground.
- The NTSB is requesting the public's assistance in locating these engine pieces in a sparsely populated area south of Woodland Park to southwest of Cripple Creek, urging finders not to handle them but to report to the Teller County sheriff's department.
- The flight crew safely returned and landed the aircraft at Denver International Airport with no injuries to the 50 passengers and four crew, although the plane sustained minor damage.
- An investigation is underway, correlating radar records and flight recorder data to pinpoint the potential locations of the missing engine components.
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