American Airlines Plane Makes Emergency Landing After Loud Bang 7:01 a.m. ET (1101 GMT) April 3, 2000

DALLAS  An American Airlines passenger plane made an emergency landing Sunday night after a loud bang occurred on board.

Andrea Rader, spokeswoman for the Fort Worth-based airline, said she assumed that some of the 57 passengers reported seeing sparks from the McDonnell-Douglas Super 80's right engine.

Flight 772 left Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport at 8:25 p.m. en route to LaGuardia Airport in New York. After the captain heard the bang and saw a warning light go on, he shut down the right engine and made an emergency landing in Shreveport, La., at 9:20 p.m., Rader said.

It's unknown what caused the loud noise. All the passengers and the six crew members got off the plane without injuries, she said.

Another plane went to Shreveport to pick up the passengers and take them to LaGuardia, Rader said.

The plane was taken out of service and will be inspected Monday.

http://www.foxnews.com/national/040300/americanair.sml

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), April 03, 2000