Sky Airlines flight H2-112 returned to land at Santiago-Arturo Merino Benitez Airport in Chile after the engine cowlings of the no. 1 engine broke off during departure. The Airbus A319 took off from runway 35R at 7:39 local time (10:39 UTC). After losing both cowlings on the number 1 CFMI CFM56-5B5/P engine, the aircraft circled back and landed safely on runway 35L at 8:04.
The emergency occurred when the aircraft was about 20 minutes into the flight. While this situation generated a potential risk to the passengers, the pilot decided to return to Santiago preventively.
Meanwhile, the company specified that the partial detachment of the piece that covers the left engine occurred at takeoff.
“This isolated event not involved any risk to the safety of the 137 passengers aboard, who were reassigned to the 10:30 am scheduled flight today,” they said in a brief statement.
9:38 Carcasa de turbina se desprende en pleno vuelo a Copiapó. Avión SKY w112 se devolvió a Stgo @reddeemergencia pic.twitter.com/Ey8PZcI3RP
— Informaciones Chile (@InformacionesCL) October 14, 2015
@tv_mauricio Avión de Sky en pleno despegue se devuelve por desprendimiento de parte de uno de sus motores @biobio pic.twitter.com/He4pBrVkfk
— Alejandro Cornejo S (@alexcornejo_s) October 14, 2015