LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – An experienced commercial airline pilot is offering his perspective after a smoking engine forced a plane to land shortly after taking off from the Las Vegas airport Wednesday morning.
Harry Reid International Airport officials say American Airlines flight 1665, heading to Charlotte, NC, was forced to return to the airport after smoke was observed emanating from one of its engines.
As a retired American Airlines pilot with 30+ years on the job, Steve Cawthon has one piece of advice for anybody who ends up in a situation like the passengers of American Airlines flight 1665: “Don’t panic.”
Cawthon said he retired about three years ago with over 30,000 hours of flight time under his belt.
He acknowledged the scary sight passengers likely saw out their windows Wednesday morning.
“It’s going to be a very loud bang. It’s going to shake the airplane very much. Anybody looking out at the engine at the time will see a large amount of flame flying out the back,” he said.
He said pilots are highly trained for this scenario.
“We’re not as worried as maybe the general public thinks,” he said.
Based on his experience, Cawthon said the incident Wednesday morning looks to him like a classic engine compressor stall, which happens when the airflow inside the engine is disrupted.
It builds up too much gas in the compressor section and then blows it out both the back and front of the engine, he said.
“It’s not a normal thing, but it’s also not completely abnormal. Most pilots will experience it at least once in their career,” he said.
MORE: Plane with smoking engine forced to land shortly after taking off from Las Vegas airport
In this scenario, Cawthon said first, the pilot will figure out which engine is disrupted. Then, they will take several steps, including turning the autopilot off and seeing if the compressor stall clears.
If that doesn’t work, he said the pilot will likely shut down the engine and follow their checklist for a single-engine landing, looking for the quickest and safest way to get their passengers back to the airport.
“All commercial airliners are perfectly fine flying on the one engine, if they did shut down the bad engine,” Cawthon said.
Officials from American Airlines issued a statement Wednesday morning saying flight 1665 had had a mechanical issue.
“American Airlines flight 1665 returned to Las Vegas (LAS) shortly after takeoff due to a mechanical issue. The aircraft taxied to the gate under its own power and customers deplaned normally. We appreciate the professionalism of our crew and thank our team who are working to get our customers to their destinations as quickly as possible.”
According to airline officials, there were 153 passengers and six crew members onboard.
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