Boeing 737 3H4 incident near St. Louis, Missouri, December 23, 2013
On December 23, 2013 at about 10:15 pm local time, a 1992 Boeing 737 3H4, registered N360SW, suffered minor damage in an incident during takeoff near St. Louis, Missouri (St Louis Lambert Intl airport). It was flown under scheduled airline rules (Part 121). No one was hurt; 107 people were on board or involved. The weather was conditions the NTSB did not record.
The NTSB's probable cause their words, unchanged
The initial damage to the fan blades was caused by the ingestion of two mallard ducks that caused one or more fan blades to fracture, striking the fan shroud, as well as other passing fan blades, producing various sized blades fragments that created a cascading effect of collateral impact damage to the other fan blades, the fan case, and the inlet cowl. One large blade fragment was deflected out of the fan containment plane, which pierced and exited the inlet cowl in a benign direction. The engine and airplane met the applicable bird and containment design standards since the engine did not catch on fire, no engine cases exhibited any penetrations, the engine was able to be shutdown normally, and the airplane damage did not impact the safe operation of the airplane or create a hazard to the persons on board.
Source: NTSB aviation accident database, copy made October 12, 2026. Docket and reports at the NTSB.
What the record shows
- Date
- December 23, 2013 · about 10:15 pm local time · cases in 2013
- Place
- St. Louis, Missouri · St Louis Lambert Intl · cases near this airport · map
- Type
- Incident
- Injuries
- No one was hurt; 107 people were on board or involved.
- Weather
- conditions the NTSB did not record
- Aircraft
- Boeing 737 3H4 3H4, built 1992 · all 737 3H4s on the register
- Registration
- N360SW · no longer on the register · serial 26571
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Flight
- Flight · scheduled airline rules (Part 121)
The NTSB's narrative final · quoted from the NTSB record
On December 23, 2013, at approximately 1615 central standard time a Boeing 737-344, registration number N360SW, operated by SWA as flight 1091, and powered by two CFM56-3 turbofan engines, experienced a bird strike and ingestion on the No. 2 or right-hand engine (RHE) after takeoff from Lambert-St. Louis International Airport (STL), Missouri. As the airplane climbed through 1,700 feet, it impacted multiple birds causing damage to the RHE and wing. The pilot declared an emergency and returned to STL for an uneventful landing. There were no injuries reported to the 110 passengers, 2 flight crew and 3 flight attendants. The incident flight was a 14 CFR Part 121 domestic passenger flight from STL to Kansas City International Airport, Kansas City, Missouri (MCI). Day visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time and an instrument flight rules flight plan was filed. Examination of the airplane revealed no damage to the fuselage. Examination of the engine revealed no penetration or breaches of the cases; however, the fan case exhibited several bulges that corresponded to hard impacts and missing fan blade rub strip material exposing the parent material below. Examination of the RHE revealed that all the fan blades were extensively damaged exhibiting hard-body impact damage with significant material loss along the length of the leading edge. Two adjacent fan blades were fractured transversely across the airfoil near the one-third span, and exhibited leading edge soft-body impact damage. The remains of the two birds were identified as one male and one female mallard duck. The average weight of the male mallard is 1246 grams or 2.75 pounds; the average weight of the female mallard is 1095 grams or 2.4 pounds. Comparing the airplane and engine damage to the requirements for bird ingestion and engine debris containment at the time the engine and airplane were both certificated revealed that the engine complied with the bird ingestion and containment requirements set forth in Parts 33.77 and 33.19 and the airplane complied with the containment requirements set forth in Parts 25.903.
The complete narrative as the NTSB published it. The NTSB's docket holds the report as a PDF and any photographs, statements and other documents from the investigation.
The factual record from the NTSB's investigation tables, in plain English
What happened, in order
- Birdstrike during takeoff defining event
The NTSB's findings
- cause Environmental issues › Physical environment › Object/animal/substance › Animal(s)/bird(s) › Effect on equipment
The aircraft
- Maximum gross weight: 138,499 lb
- Landing gear: fixed
- Engine 1: Cfm Intl. CFM56 SERIES (turbofan); 0 hours total
- Engine 2: Cfm Intl. CFM56 SERIES (turbofan); 0 hours total
- Operator: Southwest Airlines CO
The flight
- Departed from: STL St Louis MO
- Destination: MCI Kansas City MO
- A second pilot was aboard
Weather at the time
- Light: daylight
- Temperature: 0°F (-18°C), dew point 0°F (-18°C)
Injuries
| Fatal | Serious | Minor | None | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cabi | 3 | |||
| Flight crew | 2 | |||
| Passengers | 102 |
Documents from the investigation the NTSB's docket: the evidence folder behind the report
1 document, released by the NTSB on January 10, 2018. View them here, or download them; the NTSB redacts some personal details before release, and this site shows the NTSB's own titles rather than its file names.
| # | Document | What it is | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Powerplants Group Chairman's Factual Report | PDF, 29 pages | View Download |
The same docket at the NTSB · documents without a copy here are fetched from the NTSB when you open them.
Connections how this case links to the rest of the register
- N360SW: not on the register today · the record of its deregistration
- Boeing 737 2,894 registered today · the model family and its accident history
- Boeing 6,676 aircraft on the register
- Engine: Cfm Intl. CFM56 SERIES 708 aircraft carry this series today · as the NTSB recorded it
- Engine: Cfm Intl. CFM56 SERIES 708 aircraft carry this series today · as the NTSB recorded it
- St. Louis Lambert International · nearest airport
- Kansas City International · bound for
- Accidents and incidents in Missouri 1,637 since 1982 · 216 in the last ten years
- Missouri 5,813 aircraft registered
The whole map of how records connect · these connections as data: /graph/accident/ENG14IA005.json.
The bigger picture in Aviation Analytics: accidents over time since 1982, by model, by phase of flight and conditions, by place and on the map.
Everything on this page comes from the NTSB's public records. The narrative, probable cause and findings are the NTSB's own words; the coded tables behind the report are written out in plain English, with pilots' ages, home towns and medical details left out. The documents and photographs are the NTSB's docket, shown as the NTSB released them. This site's own text does not name anyone involved, its policy at this time. A preliminary report can change; the final report usually follows one to two years later, and the page is refreshed when it does.