Southwest jet loses engine at 30,000 ft

A Southwest Airlines jet was forced to make an emergency landing after the cabin lost pressure due to what federal officials called a rare uncontained engine failure.

Startled passengers on board Flight 3472 heard a frightening blast from the aircraft's left at an altitude of 30,700 feet. Outside their windows, they saw smoke fuming from the exposed turbine blades at around 9:20 am on Saturday. No one was injured on Flight 3472 from New Orleans to Orlando, Florida, when the Boeing 737 was diverted Saturday to Pensacola International Airport in Florida, an spokesman said by e-mail, citing an unknown mechanical issue. A photo posted on Twitter by the Southwest pilots union showed the plane in flight with the front of the left nacelle, as the casing is formally known, torn off to expose the engine inside. "A great job today by our professional SouthwestAir pilots!," the union wrote.

In an uncontained failure, debris escapes the hardened engine casing and can damage or penetrate the wings or fuselage, amplifying the risk to the aircraft far beyond the loss of thrust. The US National Transportation Safety Board said in a Twitter posting that it is investigating.

The flight landed without incident at 10:40 am New York time, after roughly a half-hour in the air, according to airline data-tracker FlightAware.com. There were no indications of injuries among the 99 passengers and five crew members on board, the spokesman said.