NATION : Toilet Blamed for Engine Loss
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TAMPA, Fla. — A 3,500-pound engine may have fallen off a Northwest Airlines jet because of leaking toilet fluid, officials said today, as the turbine was found on a wooded cattle farm near the North Florida town of Madison.
The loss of the right rear engine over Florida on Thursday forced the pilot of the crippled Boeing 727 jetliner to make an emergency landing on two engines at Tampa International Airport.
The accident may have been caused by a loose rubber valve that allowed blue toilet liquid to leak from a forward tank, said safety investigator Andrew Alston. “The rubber ring of the valve was shifting off center,” he said. “We found indications of a massive blue streak on the right side of the plane.”
Investigators said the leaking fluid could have frozen at 35,000 feet.
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