Nationwide press release -
08/11/07 – 14:30
On Wednesday 7th November, our flight
CE723 departed from Cape Town at 1550. During the take off
roll, as the nose wheel lifted from the ground (rotation),
the Captain heard a loud noise immediately followed by a yaw
of the aircraft (sideways slippage) to the right. On confirmation
of the flight-deck instrumentation, it was apparent that the
number two engine (on the right side) had failed. Simultaneously
it was observed by some passengers onboard as well as people
at the airport that the engine had separated and detached
from the wing.
The Captain applied emergency procedures
prescribed for an engine failure and continued the climb out
from the airfield. An emergency was declared and the aircraft
was cleared to return and perform an emergency landing. The
cabin crew were briefed and the passengers were prepared for
the landing.
The aircraft landed without further
incident. There were no injuries sustained by anyone on board
or on the ground.
It has been determined that during
the take off roll an object which is yet to be defined was
ingested into the engine which caused a catastrophic engine
failure. The subsequent forces experienced by the engine supporting
structure caused this to fail and for the number two engine
to detach from the wing. The engine-to-wing supporting structure
is designed to release the engine when extreme forces are
applied to prevent any structural damage to the wing that
may impair the aircrafts ability to fly.
We are currently working with authorities
and investigators to establish what exactly the unidentified
object was.
The engine on this particular aircraft
was fitted in March 2005 after a major overhaul by an approved
Federal Aviation Authority Facility in the USA and has since
accumulated 3,806 hours. These engines typically achieve 10,000
hrs between major overhauls.
The Boeing B737 aircraft has an excellent
safety record. Globally, there are over 5,000 of these aircraft
in daily service with a departure occurring every 9 seconds
of every day.
The benchmark in aviation for safety
standards is measurement against the International Air Transport
Association Operational Safety Audit (IOSA). Nationwide Airlines
underwent this audit and was found to be in conformity. As
a result, Nationwide Airlines is one of the few airlines in
Africa to reside on the IOSA Register.
The airline industry is the most regulated
industry in the world in terms of safety, training and aircraft
maintenance. In no other profession are skilled individuals
such as pilots required to undergo testing and to demonstrate
their proficiency on such a regular basis. Training encompasses
a wide variety of subjects and scenarios that hopefully flight
crew members will never be called upon to exercise in the
operational environment. Yesterday this training paid off
– the skills of the crew were called upon and procedures
were carried out in a text-book fashion.
The pilots and cabin crew of flight
723 must be complimented for their superb display of professionalism
and airmanship and for a job well done.
www.flynationwide.co.za
My wings are like a shield of steel.