"Debris litters runway after aborted takeoff"

Monday, May 10, 2004 

Debris litters runway after aborted takeoff 
Colonie-- No injuries or flight delays reported as jet has engine
trouble  
By MIKE GOODWIN
The Albany (NY) Times Union


The pilot of an Atlanta-bound jetliner aborted takeoff Sunday afternoon
when the plane began experiencing engine trouble -- and left debris
strewed across a 300-foot stretch of runway.

Delta Flight 650, a Boeing 737 carrying 97 passengers and five crew
members, was heading down the north-south runway when the pilot detected
trouble in the right engine, airport spokesman Doug Myers said.
 
The jet never got off the ground, he said. The jet was about halfway
down the runway when the trouble began, he said. The plane was scheduled
to take off at 12:35 p.m.

The plane was towed to a nearby hangar and the passengers disembarked to
wait for later flights. No one was injured.

The runway was closed for two hours while workers cleared the debris.

"We found some parts on the runway," Myers said. The debris appeared to
be remnants from an engine rotor.

The Federal Aviation Administration was notified about the incident and
will investigate, Myers said.

Despite closure of the airport's main runway, no flights were delayed.
Instead, planes were diverted to the east-west runways and flights
resumed without interruption, Myers said.

The Boeing 737, a short- to medium-range airplane, is the most widely
used commercial passenger jet in the world and has one of the best
safety records.

However, in 2000, the FAA ordered Boeing to redesign the plane because
of concerns about the stability of the rudders. Rudder problems were to
blame for the 1994 crash of a USAir flight outside Pittsburgh that
killed 132 people and a 1991 crash of a United flight in Colorado
Springs that left 25 dead. The rudders also were suspected for a number
of other in-air incidents that left the planes temporarily
uncontrollable.


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