When you hear stories about an aircraft 'losing an engine,' you probably think of the loss being in terms of engine power due to some sort of fault or malfunction. But what about when an aircraft physically loses an engine by detaching from it altogether? Such an incident occurred in January 1990, involving a Northwest Airlines 727 en route from Miami to Minneapolis.
Northwest Airlines flight 5 originated at Miami International Airport (MIA) in Florida and was destined for Minnesota's Minneapolis-Saint Paul International (MSP). This route is currently served by American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Spirit Airlines, and Sun Country Airlines on a seasonal basis.
The Aviation Safety Network notes that on January 4th, 1990, the service had 139 passengers and six crew members onboard. Operated by a Boeing 727 registered as N280US, the flight took off around 08:15 local time. According to historical fleet data from ATDB.aero, N280US was a 727-200 variant that had been with Northwest for its entire career since December 1975.