B737-700 flight crew reported an engine failure after takeoff; identified with a loud boom; resulting in a return to the departure airport with ATC assistance.
Synopsis
B737-700 flight crew reported an engine failure after takeoff; identified with a loud boom; resulting in a return to the departure airport with ATC assistance.
Narrative
During initial climbout; passing roughly 8;700 ft; a loud bang occurred. I looked down at the engine instruments and saw the #1 Engine N1 indication abnormal with limits exceeded. My initial thought was engine severe damage. It was louder than anything I've experienced in the simulator. It sounded like a gunshot went off in the cockpit.I was the Pilot Flying so the autopilot disconnected. After regaining control and trimming it somewhat; I called for the Engine Fire or Engine Severe Damage or Separation checklist. The First Officer ran this checklist; and advised ATC for us. We asked ATC for 9000 ft. There were thunderstorms in the area and ZZZ Departure turned us north initially followed by an extended downwind. The plan was for landing on runway XXR.After the #1 Engine was shut down; we followed up with the QRH. I made a PA to the Passengers/Flight Attendants telling them we had a mechanical issue; and we were returning to ZZZ. I told them there would be some fire trucks moving around us on the runway. I wanted everyone to remain seated after we landed. Due to a thunderstorm ahead of us; ATC vectored us onto a base leg followed by a final turn for XXR. At that point; we needed more time to finish running our QRH procedure and told ATC. They continued us upwind again. We remained close to the airport in night VMC conditions. After the next turn to a downwind with the QRH items mostly completed; we felt ready for a turn inbound for landing. They offered us XXL as an option. I was more comfortable with XXR as there was a NOTAM for XXL; I can't remember the exact issue. XXR felt more comfortable for me as a landing runway so we decided to stick with that. Normal ops for landing in ZZZ is XXR as I have landed on it many times and was more familiar with the taxiway exit points; etc.We landed Flaps 15 with autobrakes 3. I saw the fire trucks near the end of the runway. I deactivated the autobrakes and rolled down to where they were. The First Officer communicated with CFR (Crash Fire Rescue) as they inspected the aircraft on the runway. We decided to remain on the runway as there was more space for CFR to move around the aircraft. While this was being done; I made another PA to the back emphasizing to stay seated as the CFR completed their inspection. CFR stated the aircraft appeared fine. The First Officer ran the brake cooling numbers. The results showed we were good to go to gate. Initially; we were assigned Gate X. From my former experience taxiing into that gate while at (other carrier); I wasn't comfortable pulling into Gate X with the #1 Engine shut down. If they marshaled us to a stop prior to my initial turn toward the jetway; I was worried about making that hard right turn without the #1 Engine running from a stopped position. Sometimes this would require differential power; mainly from the #1 Engine. We had them change the gate to Y.We pulled into gate normally. We shut down. A brief conversation with the Flight Attendants... they said they knew what happened due to the loud bang. I apologized for not specifically briefing them. At the time; I figured my Passenger briefing had covered them as well. ZZZ Maintenance Personnel met us. I briefed them on what happened. Then called Dispatch for a briefing with (Company) Maintenance; Dispatcher; Chief Pilot on call. I entered two write-ups in logbook; one for engine issue and another for overweight landing. The operations Chief Pilot pulled the rest of our flying; and we went to hotel.If I could do it again; I would have gotten the autopilot on. I ended up hand flying the entire time. I'm not sure why I did this. In the sim; getting that autopilot on is the first thing I'd do when given the chance in that situation. This would have let me take some of the workload off the First Officer. It is a resource I had that I simply didn't use that really would have helped. I cannot emphasize how much having an experienced First Officer really helped me.
Second reporter narrative
While climbing through 8000 ft. on the ZZZZ Departure out of ZZZ; we experienced a failure of the #1 Engine. The failure manifested with a very loud 'BOOM' accompanied by an immediate role back of N2. It was much louder and more violent than engine failures I had experienced in the simulator.The Captain was quick to get on the controls and stabilize the aircraft when the failure occurred. I immediately went out to ZZZ Departure and requested a level off and told them that we would be returning to ZZZ. There were severe thunderstorms surrounding ZZZ; but the field was clear. Once we were stabilized at 9000 ft. on a vector away from weather; I got the APU started and we ran the ENGINE FIRE or Engine Severe Damage or Separation Checklist. Once completed; I advised ATC and then began running the QRH procedures. While running the QRH we were switched to Approach Control; and we requested vectors for the ILS XXR. Approach put us in a right downwind on the north side of the field. We required a few extra turns to buy us more time to complete our checklists and to avoid another cell of thunderstorms. Once we had a handle on the checklists and had our plan in place; I updated the Flight Attendants of the situation and the Captain gave a PA to the Passengers. When we got down to the deferred items we requested vectors to final XXR. When selecting Flaps 15; we noticed the Vref was wrong and that I had not updated the aircraft weight to reflect the return to ZZZ. We were heavier than what was previously calculated. We adjusted on final and dialed the speed up to Vref15 +5. The Captain made a smooth touchdown and brought it to stop on the runway. I switched over to VHF#2 and began communicating with Fire Rescue. They inspected the #1 Engine and we had them keep an eye on the brakes while I ran the Brake Cooling data. With no abnormalities visible to Fire Rescue and no cooling period required for brakes; we taxied to the gate.Overall; I feel our Crew coordination was strong on this flight. We communicated clearly to one another; and we were always on the same page. We flowed through the checklists and procedures efficiently as a team.
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.