Terrifying moment Boeing engine cowling falls off and strikes wing flap during takeoff forcing Southwest jet to return to Denver International Airport

A Southwest Airlines flight was forced to return to the Denver International Airport early Sunday after the engine cowling fell off the Boeing 737 and hit the wing flap during takeoff.

The early morning flight was on its way to the William P. Hobby Airport in Houston when passengers and crew realized the cowling had torn off and was flapping precariously against the plane.

A cowling is a removable metal covering on the engine. 

Horrifying video showed the plane parts flapping in the wind as the plane moved through the air.  It's the latest in a string of bad publicity and massive safety fears for the beleaguered airline. 

The plane returned safely to the Denver airport around 8.15am after the incident. It had departed the gate at 7.39am.

The flight later departed on a different aircraft at 10.41am Mountain Time and was set to land in Houston just before 2pm Central Time.

In one video, the pilot can be heard over the in-flight PA system saying: 'Let's go ahead and declare and emergency for Southwest 3695. And we'd like an immediate return. We've got a piece of engine cowling hanging off apparently.'

According to several unconfirmed passenger accounts of the flight, the pilot had to be told the cowling had ripped off the engine by passengers. 

Just before declaring the emergency, the Southwest pilot then told the Denver air traffic controller: 'For now everything's okay. We don't even know the nature of it, but apparently several passengers and flight attendants heard something loud hit the wing.'

'I'm not a 100 percent sure it was the engine. I think the flaps on the inboard side of the engine ... between the engine and the fuselage ripped off on takeoff. 

'We don't actually see it from the cockpit, that's just what the crew in back is telling us. Our engines seem to be fine, but we are structurally damaged,' he continued.

A statement later given by the Federal Aviation Administration read: 'Southwest Airlines Flight 3695 returned safely to Denver International Airport around 8:15 a.m. local time on Sunday, April 7, after the crew reported the engine cowling fell off during takeoff and struck the wing flap. The Boeing 737-800 was towed to the gate. The FAA will investigate.'

In a brief statement, a Southwest spokesperson said: 'Southwest Flight 3695 returned to Denver International Airport this morning and landed safely after experiencing a mechanical issue. We're working now to get customers on their way to Houston on another aircraft. Our maintenance teams are reviewing the aircraft.'

The incident is the latest in a string of safety concerns and terrifying sights involving Boeing planes. 

Last Thursday, a Southwest Boeing 737 was preparing to take off from Lubbock, Texas, to Las Vegas, when pilots got a report of an engine issue.

The local fire department later confirmed there was an engine fire that crews needed to extinguish. There were no injuries reported among the 150 passengers and crew aboard the plane.

On March 28, an Alaska Airlines plane flying from from Hawaii to Alaska was forced to turn around after a bathroom flooded filling the aisles of the Boeing 737 Max 9 jet with water.

The flight from Honolulu to Anchorage  left the island just after 10pm and was 90 minutes into its flight when the forward bathroom of the aircraft suddenly began to malfunction leaking water everywhere.

Rather than continue on the six-hour journey to Alaska the captain of Alaska Airlines flight 828 made the decision to turn back to Hawaii for the problem to be fixed.

Video captured by one of the passengers onboard sees flight attendants scrambling to mop up the deluge throwing as many blankets and paper towels onto the floor as they could find. 

The beleaguered aviation company is in the middle of a safety crisis related to its 737 Max jets, which was ignited after a door panel blew out aboard an Alaska Airlines flight.

Insiders have claimed the company has become obsessed with diversity and inclusion policies, which they deem 'anti-excellence.'

'The DEI narrative is a very real thing, and, at Boeing, DEI got tied to the status game. It is the thing you embrace if you want to get ahead. It became a means to power,' a source recently told City Journal.

'It is anti-excellence, because it is ill-defined, but it became part of the culture and was tied to compensation. Every HR email is: “Inclusion makes us better.” This kind of politicization of HR is a real problem in all companies.'

The problems with Boeing sparked a massive federal investigation and the ouster of CEO Dave Calhoun. 

Since the Alaska Airlines blowout, the company has faced questions following several other potentially dangerous episodes - but regulators, airlines and passengers have been frustrated at the lack of answers from Calhoun. Shares had fallen 25 percent since the incident.

Calhoun - a veteran crisis manager - was hired in 2020 to steer the planemaker out of a reputation setback after crashes in 2018 and 2019 killed nearly 350 people and caused the grounding of its best-selling 737 MAX jet.

But his tenure might not join the list of his successful earlier stints including at Caterpillar, General Electric and media company Nielsen, leaving when the iconic planemaker is struggling to resolve production issues and safety concerns.

The Jan. 5 mid-air panel blowout was the most recent in a spate of safety issues that have shaken the industry's confidence in Boeing and hampered its ability to increase production to meet high demand for jets.

Under Calhoun's leadership, the company has struggled to keep pace with competitor Airbus.

Boeing stock has lost 43 percent of its value since Calhoun took the top job on Jan. 13, 2020, underperforming the benchmark S&P 500 index.

Rival Airbus added more than 26 percent to its market cap during the same period.

While both planemakers have received bumper orders for their jets as airlines try to cater to a post-pandemic travel boom, Boeing's production and quality issues have frustrated customers.

Airbus, meanwhile, has been steadily growing single-aisle market share with its A320 jet family in the wake of multiple crises involving the MAX.