When you hear stories about an aircraft ‘losing an engine,’ you probably think of the loss being in terms of engine power, due to some sort of fault or malfunction. But what about when an aircraft physically loses an engine by detaching from it altogether? As it happens, just such a thing occurred back in January of 1990, involving a Northwest Airlines 727 that was en route from Miami to Minneapolis.

The flight and aircraft in question

Northwest Airlines flight 5 was a service that originated at Miami International Airport (MIA) in Florida. Its destination was Minnesota’s Minneapolis-Saint Paul International (MSP), the busiest airport in the US Midwest. This is a route plied today by the likes of American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Spirit Airlines, and Sun Country Airlines, although the latter carrier only serves the corridor on a seasonal basis.

It has now been almost 35 years since a rather eventful iteration of Northwest Airlines flight 5 took place. The Aviation Safety Network notes that, on January 4th, 1990, the service had 139 passengers and six crew members onboard, making for a total of 145 people. Operated by a 14-year-old Boeing 727 registered as N280US, the flight took off into the Florida skies that morning at around 08:15 local time.

According to historical fleet data made available by ATDB.aero, N280US was an example of the 727-200 variant, which was a stretched-fuselage iteration of the original Boeing 727-100 model. The aircraft had been at Northwest for its entire career at the time of the incident, having entered service at the carrier just over 14 years previously, back in December of 1975, the same month as its first flight.

Unknowingly flying with just two engines

Just under an hour into the morning domestic flight, something rather peculiar happened. At approximately 09:10 local time, while cruising over Madison, Florida, the aircraft’s pilots heard a loud bang towards the rear of the plane. Following this, at an altitude of 35,000 feet, AirLive reports that they noted that the trijet’s starboard-mounted engine (on the right-hand side of the 727) had lost power.

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Of course, aircraft are designed to still function in the event of a loss of power to an engine. As such, the stricken 727 was able to continue flying under the power of its two remaining turbofans, namely the ones mounted at the center and left of the trijet’s tail, for nearly 50 more minutes. However, in the interests of safety, the crew did still eventually elect to make an emergency landing in Tampa, Florida.

They ultimately did so safely at 09:58 local time, with no injuries suffered by any of the 139 passengers and six members of crew who were onboard. It was at this point that the curious reality of the situation became evident, as the aircraft hadn’t just lost power to the starboard-mounted engine, but rather the engine itself! The powerplant was located near Madison a day later, having fallen from the jet in flight.

An intentional safety feature

An investigation into the incident ultimately found that it had been caused by an improperly installed lavatory seal near the engine. This caused the engine in question to ingest frozen fluid chunks inflight, damaging its blades in the process and ultimately causing it to fail. However, did you know that the total separation of the engine from the aircraft was actually a design feature of the Boeing 727?

Boeing 727 Front Profile

Photo: Carlos Yudica | Shutterstock

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In fact, the Chicago Tribune correspondingly reported that, according to a spokesperson for the US manufacturer, the turbofans on Boeing’s trijet were designed to sheer off ‘under certain conditions.’ This helped keep the aircraft safe, as it ensured a clean break, meaning that the engine didn’t take any of the fuselage with it as it fell. After all, this could otherwise cause more serious damage.

Not the first such occurrence

As it happens, this was also the case in a similar incident involving an American Airlines Boeing 727 back in April of 1985. According to the Los Angeles Times, the trijet was flying from Dallas to San Diego when the engine seemingly ‘seized’ over New Mexico. However, with the crew only encountering minor difficulties, they continued to San Diego, where the physical engine loss eventually became apparent.

American Airlines Boeing 727 In Seattle

Photo: Christian Heinz | Shutterstock

In any case, this incident also resulted in a safe landing, after which the aircraft was taken away for inspection. However, the clean break meant that the aircraft was in a much better state than might otherwise have been the case. This was also the case for N280US, which stayed at Northwest Airlines after the January 1990 incident, as its engine loss represented a nice clean break that was soon remedied.

According to historical fleet data made available by ATDB.aero, N280US ultimately remained at Northwest Airlines until December of 1995, before moving to Georgia-based charter specialist TransMeridian Airlines. It did so three months later on, in March of 1996, and was also briefly leased to Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela in 1998. That same year marked the end of its career, after 23 years in the skies.

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