AirTran Boeing 717 engine emergency

By John Croft

An AirTran Boeing 717 will be back in service by tonight after an in-flight engine emergency on Sunday during flight from Baltimore to Atlanta.

Flight 428 with 117 passengers and five crew members had just departed the Baltimore-Washington International airport around 1500h on Sunday when the crew declared an emergency and shut down the aircraft's right-side Rolls-Royce BR715 turbofan engine for unknown reasons.

Air traffic controllers cleared the aircraft back to Baltimore, where it landed safely at 1515.

AirTran says mechanics will remove the failed engine and send it to Rolls-Royce in Montreal for an overhaul. The aircraft is expected to be placed back into service Monday night with a replacement engine.

The airline says declaring of an emergency is standard operating procedure for engine problems.