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A B737-700 flight crew declared an emergency and diverted to the nearest suitable airport when the left engine seized following several vibration cycles at cruise.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 997548 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201203 |
| Environment | |
| Light | Daylight |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | B737-700 |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Cruise |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Component | |
| Aircraft Component | Turbine Engine |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Captain |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 267 |
| Person 2 | |
| Function | First Officer |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 300 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical |
Narrative:
We were in cruise at 38;000 ft. About 100 miles east of mci; I noticed a very small vibration almost sounding like a lavatory motor that runs longer than it should. The vibration went away after five seconds. There was no anomaly noted on the engine instruments. The same vibration came back a few more times and would go away in about five seconds with roughly five minutes elapsing between each occurrence. Before the last time the last vibration came back; I asked the first officer to ask center for lower because I didn't like that the vibration kept coming back even thought we tried speeds from .80 to .75 in .01 increments.out of FL360 there was a much more noticeable vibration; which we actually felt through our seats. At this point; the left engine failed; the autopilot disengaged and various alarms illuminated on the engine instrument display screen. The engine failure and driftdown checklists were accomplished after declaring an emergency with center. A single engine overweight landing was accomplished at the nearest suitable airport.after an initial inspection by company maintenance I was informed the left engine had seized to the point where you could not even turn the fan blades. A substantial amount of melted engine parts were also found in the tailpipe.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: A B737-700 flight crew declared an emergency and diverted to the nearest suitable airport when the left engine seized following several vibration cycles at cruise.
Narrative: We were in cruise at 38;000 FT. About 100 miles east of MCI; I noticed a very small vibration almost sounding like a lavatory motor that runs longer than it should. The vibration went away after five seconds. There was no anomaly noted on the engine instruments. The same vibration came back a few more times and would go away in about five seconds with roughly five minutes elapsing between each occurrence. Before the last time the last vibration came back; I asked the First Officer to ask Center for lower because I didn't like that the vibration kept coming back even thought we tried speeds from .80 to .75 in .01 increments.Out of FL360 there was a much more noticeable vibration; which we actually felt through our seats. At this point; the left engine failed; the autopilot disengaged and various alarms illuminated on the engine instrument display screen. The Engine Failure and Driftdown checklists were accomplished after declaring an emergency with Center. A single engine overweight landing was accomplished at the nearest suitable airport.After an initial inspection by company Maintenance I was informed the left engine had seized to the point where you could not even turn the fan blades. A substantial amount of melted engine parts were also found in the tailpipe.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 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.