Boeing 737: Southwest Airlines plane emergency lands after engine part rips off during takeoff striking the aircraft's wing

Part of an engine covering has fallen off a Boeing plane during takeoff hitting the aircraft’s wing. Southwest flight 3695 was leaving Denver International Airport on Sunday morning (7 April) at 8.15am when the engine’s cowling detached.

A video posted on social media shows the engine cowling flapping in the wind before it detaches completely and bangs against the aircraft’s wing. The Houston-bound flight, carrying 135 passengers, returned to the Colorado airport without incident. No injuries were reported.

According to ABC News Southwest said the plane “landed safely after experiencing a mechanical issue.” The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has announced that it will investigate the incident on the Boeing 737-800 plane. 

A passenger, who gave the name Lisa C, told ABC News said the cowling detached approximately 10 minutes after boarding was completed. She said: "We all felt kind of a bump, a jolt, and I looked out the window because I love window seats, and there it was. Another passenger, Cooper Glass, told ABC News that the incident was "frightening," but that the pilot did an excellent job returning to the airport.

Southwest Airlines said its maintenance teams were examining the aircraft. The affected passengers were flown on another flight to Houston about three hours behind their scheduled arrival time.

The incident is the latest in a string of issues to plague Boeing. Last week the US Secretary of State was forced to go by road from Paris to Brussels for a NATO meeting after the government’s Boeing 737 plane suffered “mechanical issues”. 

On 5 January, a door plug panel on a new Alaska Airlines’ Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft tore off while it was cruising at 16,000 feet prompting a huge investigation into Boeing aircraft. Following the incident the FAA grounded 171 of the company's MAX 9 aircrafts for review. It has also prohibited the company from increasing production of the MAX series aircraft, and has ordered it to develop a comprehensive plan to address "systemic quality-control issues".

The Department of Justice has launched a criminal investigation into the Alaska Airlines incident. A six-week audit into Boeing and its subcontractor Spirit AeroSystems has recently found “dozens” of quality control problems including dish soap and hotel key cards being used on parts of planes. 

The audit run by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) found that mechanics working for Spirit were observed using Dawn dish soap on a door seal in place of lubricant. The seal was then reportedly cleaned up with a “wet cheesecloth.” In another instance, Spirit mechanics were reportedly found using a hotel key card to check a door seal. A former US congressman, Peter DeFazio, previously slammed Boeing for relying on “crappy stuff” from its subcontractor.