It hasn't been a great week for the airlines. Last week alone, we've learned the on-time arrival rate is the worst in 13 years and that two pilots fell asleep on a flight from Baltimore to Denver. Now, we have to worry about parts of the airplane falling off.
On Wednesday, a Nationwide airline made an emergency landing in South Africa after one of the engines fell off. Amazingly, the staff and passengers were aware of the incident, but did not panic. There were 100 people on board and no one was injured.
The right engine "separated from the wing. The aircraft continued to climb out," the airline said in a statement. "The aircraft returned and landed at Cape Town International Airport without further incident."
One of the passengers, Pretoria businesswoman Ronel Derman, told the South African Press Association that she had been in a seat directly over the wing and a passenger seated next to her was looking out of the window.
"I heard this huge bang, and he said, 'That's our engine that's just fallen off.' I couldn't believe it. He had to repeat it to me," she told SAPA.
"The plane started to shake a bit, but what was amazing was the staff and passengers: everybody was so calm. There was no hysteria, no nothing, it was amazing. The guy next to me seemed to know something about planes. He said, 'Don't worry: the plane will go with one engine.' So I thought, 'that's OK.'"
Derman said the plane flew around to dump fuel but made a smooth landing.
She said that when the plane had come to a stop surrounded by fire engines, the pilot walked into the cabin, and all the passengers cheered.
The Civil Aviation Authority's executive manager for air safety investigations, Gilbert Thwala, said investigators were on their way from Johannesburg to Cape Town to investigate the incident, according to SAPA.