Engine Trouble Prompts Crew on MSP-Bound Flight To Declare Emergency and Return To LAX

Engine trouble on a Twin Cities-bound Sun Country jet prompted an emergency declaration shortly after takeoff and forced the aircraft’s return to the Los Angeles airport, airline and federal officials said Tuesday.

Flight 430 left Los Angeles International Airport early Monday for Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport but soon “experienced an issue with one engine after take-off [and] declared an emergency,“ a statement from the Twin Cities based airlines read. ”The airliner returned to LAX at approximately 12:54 a.m. [PDT] and taxied back to the gate.”

The authoritative aviation tracking website FlightAware said the flight was in the air for about 20 minutes before its return to LAX.

The flight had 166 passengers and six crew members on board, the statement continued.

A spokesman with the Federal Aviation Administration said the agency is investigating what went wrong with the engine on the Boeing 737-800. Neither the FAA nor Sun Country has disclosed the make and model of the engine.

Sun Country said it brought in another jet to fly the passengers to the Twin Cities.

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