Ever seen one of these before...

[RollerBall]

Ground engineer to his buddy as the plane takes off....

'If I didn't forget to turn off the gas when I came out I know there's something I forgot to do today....'

[C]

I saw this shot a while ago myself. I bet the passengers got a tad concerned

Fascinating picture though! Brings awhole new meaning to "air cooled" engines...

Charlie

[ozzy72]

I've seen this shot as well, if I'd been on the flight I'd have been busy spouting crash statistics to frighten everyone as I love watching nervous flyers go a funny green/grey colour

[Rocket_Bird]

I remember seeing that.  Thats the time when the flight attendants will be distributing the drinks.

[Saratoga]

Well as long as it didn't compound into a worse problem, nothing at all wrong. Good for the engine, maybe not for fuel flow or drag efficiency though .

I would have to give the standard "Ladies and Gentlemen, nothing to worry about *slaps the flight engineer* problem fixed!" but on the inside I am wanting to say "You know kids, statistically, we have like a 10 percent chance of running out of gas and spinning into an open field!"

[Clipper]

Hey Saratoga  Would you have a "piece falling off" experience you may want to share with us? p.s. I'm talking about a aircraft

[Saratoga]

Well I've had a spoiler panel snap off in heavy turbulence but nothing dangerous to really talk about. That one I have been fortunate on.

Actually I have an entertaining one, if simple. Gotta get the paper out I typed it on (I type up my more amusing and learning experiences) A long time ago I was flying in the Embraer 120 as a captain, we were leaving Houston, Texas, for Corpus Christi, Texas. Climbing through about 13,000 feet, the copilot's windsheild wiper broke loose, however, it was still attached by the tube running along it's back. So it started flopping against the window, was loud as everything. Didn't do any damage (scratched the paint and the window a little) and flight ops didn't consider it a hazard, so we were told to continue on to Corpus. After we landed, the copilot and I had a good laugh about it standing in front of the airplane, and told all the passengers (who we didn't think could hear it, but apparently could ever so slightly) what it was. Most of them found it entertaining, but the copilot had to convince one lady that a loose windsheild wiper really wasn't a threat to the airplane.

[TacitBlue]

what caused that in the photo?

[MarcoAviator]

what caused that in the photo?

My guess? they forgot to latch the cover on the ground after preflight and it popped off at takeoff.

Other than a few stares from scared passengers, if the cowling didn't damage anything on its way out, no reason to even stop the flight.

[beaky]

Looks OK to me... it's still there, and it's not on fire!
That piece flapping around on top is a little scary though- if it came loose it might damage the empennage...

[Saratoga]

Ya no harm done to the airplane. Probably maintenance improperly latched the cowling, held fine on the ground but popped under the speeds and stress of flying. Pilots don't open it during preflight. So this plane probably had maintenance the previous night.