GRAPEVINE, Texas -- An engine fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport Tuesday, but the plane landed safely and no one was injured.
Delta spokesman Bobby Harper said the right engine separated from the two-engine Boeing 737-300 as it lifted off on a flight to Houston with 39 passengers.
The pilot quickly turned around and landed in about 12 minutes, he said.
'We're stunned as you might imagine, but there were no injuries to anybody,' he said from Delta's Atlanta headquarters.
Flight 1581 lifted off about 1:30 p.m. CST for Houston Intercontinental Airport. The pilot circled the crippled aircraft until he could land on another runway at 1:42 p.m., officials said.
'I understand it was only a few feet off the ground when the engine dislodged,' Delta Marketing official Bill Holland said.
A passenger, Paul Delgado, said he was seated near the wing.
'I saw the wing buckle, and I thought maybe I was just tired, but then there was a tremendous boom and a lot of smoke,' he said. 'Everyone was very calm.'
The airplane remained on the runway as buses arrived to get the passengers to the airport terminal. Most of the passengers were boarded on other flights to Houston, Delta officials said.
Emergency equipment responded but there was no fire on the aircraft.
The plane has a capacity of 128 passengers with a crew of six.
The National Transportation Safety Board was investigating.
