Narrative:

We were in cruise flight at FL330. Two compressor stalls were followed shortly by many stalls (approximately ten to twelve). We determined which engine and pulled it to idle. The engine seemed to operate normally at idle. We decided to leave the engine in idle for the rest of the flight. During coordination for the divert and while we were performing the QRH checklist; the left engine decided to shut itself down. We got the APU up for generator use on the left side and started in on the single engine landing checklist. Because of this; I forgot to shut the engine off while at altitude. Approximately 35 NM from landing; I took the aircraft from the first officer for landing set up and noticed the start lever was still up. I coordinated with the first officer to shut it off. The single engine checklist was completed on the final.there was some confusion on the final to the runway. Approach put a B757 in front of us. Due to our increased airspeed for the flaps 15 landing; we closed on the B757 rapidly and some discussions were had on breaking the B757 out to another runway. This discussion; although necessary; was not what I wanted to hear while on final for a single engine landing. My first officer wanted me to land on the longer runway all along; but I wanted to keep everything as normal as possible. We ended up taking the longer runway; which ended up being the better idea due to our extreme heavy weight with only one reverser. The aircraft was checked by the fire department for hot brakes and any other problems. The aircraft was taxied back to the gate. I should have made the decision to land on the longer runway from the beginning. We were a very heavy weight and the very hot temperatures at the airport would mean a long landing rollout. I did not take all of this into my initial planning for the landing.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B737-300 flight crew diverted to a nearby airport when the left engine experienced multiple compressor stalls and ultimately shutdown.

Narrative: We were in cruise flight at FL330. Two compressor stalls were followed shortly by many stalls (approximately ten to twelve). We determined which engine and pulled it to idle. The engine seemed to operate normally at idle. We decided to leave the engine in idle for the rest of the flight. During coordination for the divert and while we were performing the QRH checklist; the left engine decided to shut itself down. We got the APU up for generator use on the left side and started in on the Single Engine Landing Checklist. Because of this; I forgot to shut the engine off while at altitude. Approximately 35 NM from landing; I took the aircraft from the First Officer for landing set up and noticed the start lever was still up. I coordinated with the First Officer to shut it off. The Single Engine Checklist was completed on the final.There was some confusion on the final to the runway. Approach put a B757 in front of us. Due to our increased airspeed for the flaps 15 landing; we closed on the B757 rapidly and some discussions were had on breaking the B757 out to another runway. This discussion; although necessary; was not what I wanted to hear while on final for a single engine landing. My First Officer wanted me to land on the longer runway all along; but I wanted to keep everything as normal as possible. We ended up taking the longer runway; which ended up being the better idea due to our extreme heavy weight with only one reverser. The aircraft was checked by the Fire Department for hot brakes and any other problems. The aircraft was taxied back to the gate. I should have made the decision to land on the longer runway from the beginning. We were a very heavy weight and the very hot temperatures at the airport would mean a long landing rollout. I did not take all of this into my initial planning for the landing.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.