Southwest B38M at New Orleans on Dec 20th 2023, bird strike
Last Update: June 26, 2025 / 08:46:32 GMT/Zulu time
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Dec 20, 2023
Classification
Incident
Cause
Bird strike
Airline
Southwest Airlines
Flight number
WN-554
Departure
New Orleans, United States
Destination
Tampa, United States
Aircraft Registration
N8830Q
Aircraft Type
Boeing 737-800MAX
ICAO Type Designator
B38M
A replacement Boeing 737-800 registration N8501V reached Tampa with a delay of about 5 hours.
The FAA reported: "AIRCRAFT STRUCK A BIRD ON TAKEOFF, NEW ORLEANS, LA."
The airline reported the aircraft was struck by a bird and returned to New Orleans.
The airport reported the runways needed to be briefly closed to clear up debris.
The occurrence aircraft was still on the ground in New Orleans about 20 hours after landing back.
On Nov 23rd 2024 the NTSB announced they have opened an investigation into Southwest Airlines' "left engine bird strike and subsequent smoke in cockpit event that occurred in a Boeing 737-8 near New Orleans, Louisiana on Dec. 20, 2023."
In June 2025 the NTSB released urgent safety recommendations to mitigate concerns regarding the load reduction device activation in CFM Leap engines. The NTSB argued:
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is providing the following information to urge the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), CFM International, and Boeing to take action on safety recommendations in this report. These recommendations address the potential for smoke to enter the cockpit or cabin after activation of the load reduction device (LRD) resulting from an engine blade failure or imbalance on CFM LEAP-1B engines and pilot awareness about what to do if this occurs.
We identified this issue during our ongoing investigation of an incident involving Southwest Airlines flight 554, a Boeing 737-8, in which smoke filled the cockpit after a bird was ingested into the left (No. 1) engine, a CFM LEAP-1B. The NTSB is issuing an urgent safety recommendation to the FAA. In addition, we are issuing two safety recommendations to the FAA and EASA and one safety recommendation each to Boeing, CFM International, and the CAAC.
The NTSB summarized the sequence of events in flight WN-554:
On December 20, 2023, about 1414 central standard time, Southwest Airlines flight 554, a Boeing 737-8, was departing from Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY), Kenner, Louisiana, when a bird was ingested into the left (No. 1) engine, a CFM International LEAP-1B, during the initial climb.
The flight crew reported that, after an uneventful takeoff and while climbing through about 1,000 ft, the first officer (FO), who was the pilot monitoring, heard the captain say “bird.” This statement was followed immediately by a “thump” on the left side of the airplane. The flight crew reported that the airplane began to “shake violently with a distinct loss of thrust” in the No. 1 engine.
The captain called for the Engine Fire or Engine Severe Damage or Separation checklist in the Quick Reference Card (QRC). After the FO started the checklist, the flight deck filled with “acrid white smoke”; the FO later stated that he could not clearly see the captain. The FO called out “masks” and the pilots donned their masks and resumed the checklist.
The flight crew declared an emergency to air traffic control and asked airport rescue and firefighting to “roll the trucks.” The captain stated that visibility in the cockpit was restricted and that he could see nothing beyond the FO. The captain also stated that his instrument panel was difficult to see, so he thought he might need to fly the airplane solely using the head-up guidance system.3 However, after the FO pulled the engine fire switch as directed by the QRC, the smoke began to rapidly dissipate.
The flight crew notified the flight attendants about the emergency and made a public address announcement to passengers that fire trucks would be meeting the airplane. After landing at MSY, the airplane came to a full stop on the arrival runway. After inspecting the airplane, the firefighters found no evidence of a fire. The flight crew was cleared to taxi the airplane to the assigned gate and passengers deplaned normally without further incident. None of the 139 occupants aboard the airplane were injured, and the airplane sustained minor damage. The flight was operating under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121 as a scheduled domestic passenger flight from MSY to Tampa International Airport, Tampa, Florida.
Aircraft Registration Data
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Dec 20, 2023
Classification
Incident
Cause
Bird strike
Airline
Southwest Airlines
Flight number
WN-554
Departure
New Orleans, United States
Destination
Tampa, United States
Aircraft Registration
N8830Q
Aircraft Type
Boeing 737-800MAX
ICAO Type Designator
B38M
This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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