WN554 - Incident: Southwest B38M at New Orleans on Dec 20th 2023

A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-8 MAX, registration N8830Q performing flight WN-554 from New Orleans,LA to Tampa,FL (USA) with 164 people on board, was climbing out of New Orleans' runway 11 when the aircraft received a bird strike into the left hand engine (Leap) prompting the crew to stop the climb at 3000 feet and return to New Orleans for a safe landing on runway 11 about 12 minutes after departure.

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.

On Feb 26th 2026 the NTSB released their final report and investigation docket concluding the probable causes of the incident were:

A partial loss of engine power due to bird ingestion in the No. 1 (left) engine, which resulted in the activation of the load reduction device to prevent vibration. The load reduction device activation resulted in smoke and fumes entering the cockpit.

The NTSB analysed:

During initial climbout shortly after takeoff, Southwest Airlines flight 554 struck and ingested a bird into its No. 1 (left) engine, resulting in damage to the left engine fan blades and a partial loss of engine power. The airplane began to “shake violently with a distinct loss of thrust” in the left engine. The engine master caution activated, and the captain reported that he heard the fire bell sound.

The captain called for the Engine Fire or Engine Severe Damage or Separation checklist on the Quick Reference Card (QRC). According to the captain, after the first officer (FO) started the checklist, the cockpit began to fill with “acrid white smoke.” The FO called out “masks,” the pilots donned their masks, and they resumed performance of the checklist. The flight crew declared an emergency to air traffic control and requested airport rescue and firefighting (ARFF) in preparation for the flight’s return to the departure airport.

The flight crew notified the cabin crew and passengers about the emergency. The captain later reported that, due to the smoke, his instrument panel was difficult to see and that he thought he might need to fly the airplane by solely using the heads-up guidance system. However, the captain stated that the smoke began to rapidly dissipate after the FO pulled the engine fire switch.

After flight 554 landed and came to a full stop, ARFF personnel inspected the airplane before the flight crew taxied to the assigned gate. The passengers deplaned normally, and no injuries were reported.

Postaccident examination found that the smoke in the cockpit was a result of the activation of the No. 1 engine’s load reduction device (LRD) after the bird ingestion. LRD activation is designed to reduce the severity of the vibration transmitted into the airframe by disconnecting the left engine’s fan blades from the turbomachinery. When the LRD activated, tubes supplying oil to the engine sump became dislodged and the flange from the sump area opened, allowing engine oil to enter the core compressor upstream of the pneumatic bleed ports that supply bleed air to the cabin and cockpit. The oil was exposed to high temperatures and resulted in smoke and fumes that were then fed into the cockpit. About 15 seconds after the bird ingestion, the left engine’s core speed (N2) was below 62% rpm, which would have deenergized the engine’s running relay and subsequently closed the pressure regulating shutoff valve (PRSOV). Following the closure of the PRSOV, which was the point of access into the cockpit, the smoke and fumes would have quickly dissipated.

Considering that both crewmembers described the airplane as shaking following the bird ingestion, the captain’s decision to begin the Engine Fire or Engine Severe Damage or Separation checklist was appropriate (one of the conditions for using the checklist was airframe vibrations).

Although the crew did not report performing the Smoke, Fire or Fumes checklist, the first officer stating “masks” accomplished two of the three memory items by donning their onepiece oxygen masks. Postincident review of this checklist found that it instructed pilots to turn off various switches, including the RECIRC FAN switches at step 9. It is not until step 11 that the checklist instructs that if the smoke or fumes become the greatest threat, pilots should reference another checklist. It is likely that the incident flight crew would have performed the Smoke, Fire or Fumes checklist first if they had not experienced severe airframe vibration following the bird ingestion.

Boeing released a flight crew operations manual (FCOM) bulletin on February 9, 2024, that described the results of the bird ingestion in this incident and the actions a flight crew should take if they experience a similar incident. Boeing also updated the system description in the Boeing 737-8 FCOM on November 15, 2024, and the Quick Reference Handbook (QRH) on November 30, 2024, to include engine failure with smoke or fumes in the flight deck or cabin as a condition to trigger reference to the Engine Fire or Engine Severe Damage or Separation QRC.

Although the NTSB found no clear evidence of significant toxic or irritant exposure to the flight crew resulting from the LRD activation on the incident flight, such an event may pose a toxicological risk. There are insufficient data to reliably determine the nature and magnitude of such risk, especially at what is expected to be limited exposure duration. It is reasonable to consider the potential for irritant effects on the pilots among the threats to the immediate safety of the flight in an LRD-related smoke event.

Passenger photo of the engine upon disembarking:

Related Flight: WN554, Southwest Airlines News