On Friday, a Shandong Airlines flight (SC4667) travelling from Qingdao to Shanghai went through a frightening emergency.
Suspected FOD ingestion forces Shandong Airlines to make emergency landing
The aircraft, a Boeing 737 with registration number B‑5627, was flying at about 27,600 feet—which is near its normal cruising height—when something went wrong with the left engine.
Passengers heard loud bangs and noticed a burning smell in the cabin. One person described the plane suddenly shaking from side to side by about 10 degrees for around five to ten minutes before the flight crew announced an emergency landing in Nanjing.
Everyone remained calm, and the crew followed standard safety procedures to bring the plane down safely at Nanjing airport.
According to the airline, early indications suggest the left engine may have suffered FOD ingestion. FOD stands for Foreign Object Debris—any object that doesn’t belong in an aircraft engine, such as bird strikes, ice chunks, or loose debris.
When an engine sucks in FOD, it can cause damage to the fan blades, parts that spin very fast to help the plane move forward. This damage can cause loud noises, strange smells, and shaking, just as passengers reported.
Thankfully, modern aircraft and pilots are trained to handle these emergencies. In this case, the crew safely diverted the flight to Nanjing and landed without further incident.
One passenger on board shared their experience:
“There were a few loud bangs, then the plane started shaking side to side by about 10 degrees, with a burnt smell that lasted five to 10 minutes… The captain then announced the emergency landing in Nanjing, and the entire process was very smooth… Thumbs up to the Shandong Airlines pilots.”
Many passengers described how quickly the crew reacted and how calmly they handled the situation.
The airline posted on social media that all affected passengers have been properly accommodated, and another aircraft was sent to complete the flight to Shanghai.
