Tucson: American Airlines (MD-80) engine fails; plane lands safely

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Tuesday, 22 February 2000

American Airlines engine fails; plane lands safely

An American Airlines jet made an emergency landing in Tucson yesterday after one of its two engines failed while the jet was about 130 miles from Tucson.

The jet, an MD-80 carrying 80 passengers from Dallas, landed without incident at the airport at 3:30 p.m., said Jeff Bowen, a spokesman for the Tucson Airport Authority.

The MD-80 series became the subject of intense scrutiny by the Federal Aviation Administration after one flown by Alaska Airlines crashed into the Pacific Ocean last month, killing 88 passengers and crew.

But that scrutiny was not directed at the plane's engines. The FAA ordered inspections of stabilizers in the tail sections of the 1,101 planes in the MD-80, MD-90, DC-9 and Boeing 717 series.

The engine failure on the Tucson-bound American jet caused no problems for passengers. ``The plane has two engines, so it was able to land with one just fine,'' Bowen said.

``It actually came in about 13 minutes ahead of schedule and it landed normally and pulled into its gate just like any other flight.''

Emergency vehicles were alerted but not needed, Bowen said.

``Our fire department is always out there in full force in these situations should anything happen,'' Bowen said.

http://www.azstarnet.com/public/dnews/082-8914.html

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), February 22, 2000


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