Uncontained Engine Failure

UNCONTAINED ENGINE FAILURE is the term you’ve been hearing, and it aptly describes what befell Southwest Airlines flight 1380 on on a flight from New York’s La Guardia Airport to Dallas on April 17th.

Basically, a jet engine can fail one of two ways. The first and more innocuous way is that it simply shuts down and ceases producing thrust. This is more or less akin to switching off the ignition in your car. Of course, all commercial jetliners have at least two engines, and can fly just fine s...