Passengers 139 Fatalities 0 Date 4 January 1990 Operator Northwest Airlines Passenger count 139 | Crew 6 Survivors 145 (all) Number of deaths 0 Survivor 145 (all) | |
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Summary In-flight engine failure and subsequent loss of the engine Site near Madison, Florida, United States Destination MinneapolisāSaint Paul International Airport Similar 1990 Wayne County Ai, Philippine Airlines Flight 143, SANSA Flight 32, Indian Airlines Flight 605, Alitalia Flight 404 | ||
Northwest Airlines Flight 5 was a flight from Miami International Airport to MinneapolisāSaint Paul International Airport, which, on January 4, 1990, suffered the loss of the number three (starboard) engine at 35,000 feet (11,000 m) in mid-flight over Madison, Florida.
The Boeing 727-251, operated by Northwest Airlines, took off from Miami at 08:15 EST on the morning of January 4, 1990. About an hour later, at approximately 09:10 EST, the pilots reported hearing a loud bang towards the rear of the aircraft. The 14-year-old jet continued to fly normally and the crew, not knowing that an engine had fallen off, flew for almost 50 minutes before carrying out a safe emergency landing at Tampa International Airport at 09:58 EST. The engine, a Pratt & Whitney JT8D-15, was found a day later in a field near Madison, Florida.
After landing, inspection crews found the forward lavatory external seal was missing and had probably been improperly installed, causing a leakage when the plane was pressurized. The missing seal caused frozen chunks of lavatory fluid to be ingested by the number three engine thus damaging the compressor blades. Upon failure the engine separated from the aircraft fuselage, as it had been designed to do.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined the probable cause of the incident to be "the failure of company service personnel to properly service the airplane forward lavatory."