Northwest Airlines Flight 5 was an internal flight from Miami International Airport to Minneapolis−Saint Paul International Airport. On January 4, 1990, the Boeing 727-251 (registered N280US) had an engine failure in the third engine while flying over Madison, Florida.
Aircraft
The aircraft was a Boeing 727-251 with registration N280US. The aircraft was 14 years old at the time of the incident. The aircraft was operated by Northwest Airlines.
Flight
On January 4, 1990, at 8:15 EST, the aircraft took off from Miami. At 9:10 , the pilots heard a loud bang. The pilots did not know that an engine fell off the aircraft. The aircraft flew for 50 minutes before emergency landing at Tampa International Airport.
After looking, it was found that the lavatory seal was missing. This made lavatory fluid freeze, and fall into the third engine. The engine fell off after being damaged. The engine was designed this way.