What happened
The air carrier Boeing 737-300 was in the process of a takeoff roll when crew members on other aircraft reported that smoke and flames were emanating from the right engine. Upon receiving this information, the flight crew immediately decided to abort the takeoff. They successfully brought the airplane to a stop on the runway and initiated an evacuation using the emergency slides.
The investigation
An examination of the affected engine revealed that the failure was contained within the engine interior. The fire was suppressed once the engine was shut down. Further inspection identified a high cycle fatigue failure affecting two blades of the stage 1 high pressure compressor.
Findings
The incident involved Boeing 737-300 operations during the takeoff phase. The mechanical issue resulted in no injuries among the 5 crewmembers and 128 passengers. The failure was isolated to the engine components, preventing further damage to the airframe.