American Airlines: Object Caused Engine Failure

As it faces criticism over engine maintenance, American Airlines says the engine of a Chicago-bound plane that failed because of an object that was sucked in. However, in this post-Flight 1549 world, American doesn't think it was a bird; "early speculation" is that the object may be from an earlier flight (the engine was sent to Tulsa for inspection). The flight had taken off from Laguardia on Tuesday morning and, about 20 minutes in, something caused dozens, if not hundreds, of pieces of sharp metal to fall over a warehouse in College Point, Queens. The flight made an emergency landing at JFK and no one was hurt from the plane or on the ground. Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the plane had a recent history of engine issues and was overdue for inspection; American disputed that and said, "There was nothing in our previous maintenance checks to indicate any issue that could be related or connected to the failure of this engine."