Southwest flight 438 left Love Field for Little Rock at 2:30 in the afternoon on November 17th but encountered a serious problem just a half hour later at 25,000 feet.
Brandy King, a spokeswoman for Southwest Airlines says "our pilot did notice a vibration in right engine. He followed procedures and shut down that engine and lands the aircraft back at Dallas Love Field"
Pictures taken after the 737 landed back in Dallas show the extent of the damage, a huge hole in the panel around the right engine.
In a letter sent three days later to the 133 passengers on board, Southwest explains, "The fan blades on the front of the engine were damaged, and rattled around the engines intake area", puncturing the acoustical cover.
Federal investigators now have parts of the engine and the flight recorder trying to figure out what happened. They don't believe a bird strike is to blame for the damage on the flight.
Video: LiveLeak
Source: First Coast News
Tags: Southwest Airlines | Engine | Hole
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